


This Isn't The Way

by spacegirl20



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Angst, Bisexual Female Character, Blood and Injury, Blood and Violence, Denial of Feelings, Enemies to Friends, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, F/M, Falling In Love, Family, Fluff, Force-Sensitive Reader, Nightmares, Oral Sex, Porn With Plot, Romance, Rough Sex, Sexual Tension, Sith Reader (Star Wars), Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Smut, Vaginal Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:27:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 19
Words: 38,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28340886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacegirl20/pseuds/spacegirl20
Summary: After taking a seemingly easy bounty hunting job, you quickly find out that your employer might not have told you the entire story, as you find yourself scrambling to get the job done and eventually losing out to a Mandalorian. But you're not one to give up that easily...
Relationships: Baby Yoda (The Mandalorian TV) & Din Djarin & Reader, Cara Dune & Reader, Din Djarin/Reader, Din Djarin/You
Comments: 35
Kudos: 116





	1. A New Rival

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Holidays! I found myself with a few days off, in which I promised myself I was going to rest and recharge...but of course I couldn't. So, in my Pedro Pascal fever, I bring you this intensely slow-burn, eventual-smut, Mandalorian fanfic that I hope my employees never find. Hope you enjoy!

The job was simple. Or so you were told. 

“Acquire the asset and you will be rewarded like a queen”. 

The words still ring in the back of your head as the overwhelming sounds of blasters going off fill the air. 

It was a battlefield. One that you had no intention of getting into, but for the riches of kings, maybe you’d risk a little.

Your employer had been very vague on instructions. All you had to track whatever he wanted was a fob and an age – 50 years to be precise. 

You were told you were the only bounty hunter given this job, but you knew there was no way that was true. You could hear the desperation in your employer’s voice as he spoke to you. 

So, you arrived prepared. You’d landed in a deserted area of Arvala-7 and instead of rushing in like you thought everyone else would, you scouted the place out. 

There were at least 20 guards that you could make out. Give or take a few that might be staying indoors. There weren’t any entrances that weren’t guarded, and you could vaguely make out a large cannon inside of the main building through your thermal scope. 

One thing was clear by the end of the first day on planet, you couldn’t storm in. 

You had planned to get up early the next day and see if the guard’s shift changes could somehow give you another advantage, but instead, you overslept. You were awoken later in the day, with the sun burning brightly on you, by the overwhelming sounds of blasters going off in the distance. 

You immediately got out of your cramped bedroom and rushed out of your ship, sniper rifle in hand and blaster strapped to your lower back. 

You ran up the sandy hill, getting stealthier the closer you got to the edge. And just as you positioned yourself over it to look through your scope, that’s when you saw him. 

A Mandalorian. 

He was far away enough that he couldn’t see you, but he was there nonetheless. And it frightened you enough to stop breathing for a second. 

Once the shock finally wore off, you moved your attention to what was causing all the raucous. 

A fucking IG-11 unit. Out of all the units out there, these were definitely the most annoying. Not only did they take most of your jobs, but they were so—

Silence. The courtyard went completely silent as the remaining guards, maybe twelve, you couldn’t tell, hid indoors. 

The IG unit kept repeating the same stupid code. You rolled your eyes as you knew no one was actually taking it seriously. 

But the Mandalorian did. Enough to slide down and try to reason with it…and thus create the perfect distraction for you. 

You waited a moment, expecting the guards to fight back sooner than later. There was no way they were going to lose out on a golden ticket such as this one. And when they did, they’d be so concentrated on the robot and the Mandalorian, that you could sneak by undetected. 

You didn’t have to wait long. Just as you had predicted, the Nikto guards quickly made their comeback, and this time there were more alive than dead. 

The bounty hunters were quickly and easily outnumbered. With their backs against a column, there was nowhere they could go. 

Now was your chance. 

As the Nikto closed in on the Mandalorian and the IG unit, you swung your rifle over your back and slid down the back slope towards the main building as quietly as possible. 

And then the cannon happened. 

“I will initiate self-destruct.” You heard the IG unit say. 

The Mandalorian quickly shot down the idea, and as they tried to shoot their way out of the corner they were in, the cannon erupted. 

You saw it coming before the noise caught up to you, so you managed to quickly swerve behind the main building for cover. The canon sounded like lighting had been condensed in a barrel was now hurling at you in small pieces. 

With your back against the wall, all you could hear was the ringing in your ears. But when you looked back out into the courtyard, the Mandalorian had taken control of the cannon and was now shooting his way through the rest of the guards.

Shit, you were running out of time. 

You quickly checked your tracking fob and pointed it towards the wall. It flashed, but not fast enough. You moved around the building, slow and calculated, until there was nowhere to go but open ground. Relenting, you pocketed your fob and took out a lightsaber looking contraption from your belt. 

It was a precious thing, something you’d built long ago. You twist the top half of the cylinder and a small, red blade of light came out of one end. You quickly get to work, carving out a big enough hole to enter through. The cut out of the wall falls into the building just as—

Boom! A shot flies towards you. Your reflexes take over and before you can get hit, you fall to your knees, quickly grabbing your blaster and shooting two guards down. 

You turn off and pocket your makeshift lightsaber before entering the building in high alert. The inside of the building is not what you expected. Crates and dust litter the entire rectangular room and there doesn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary. 

But the tracking fob says otherwise. You keep moving forward as the beeping continues to increase.

And that is when you find it, hidden under a net, a bulletproof oval carrier. Your hands hover over the button to open it as the firing stops outside. 

A chill runs down your spine as you take a moment to breathe in the silence. You listen for any indicator of who is left alive when the doors to the building explode in a series of blasts. 

You’re too late. 

You quickly regain your smarts and drape the net over the carrier before quickly making your way out the same way you came in, just in time for the metal door to bang on the concrete floor. 

You silently curse under your breath as you run back to your hiding place as fast as you can, completely ignoring the death and destruction all around you. 

The Mandalorian may have gotten the asset, for now, but there was no way you were going to stop looking for it.


	2. Stranded

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While tracking the Mandalorian through Arvala-7, you finally find out what the fuss was all about with the asset and experience something incredible that makes you change your mind and your heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why yes, of course I'll grace you with two chapters in the same day. You deserve it <3

You decided to stay on Arvala-7 a little longer. The Mandalorian didn’t have any means of transportation, so he would have to walk through the desert in order to get back to his ship, and as you well know, a lot of things can happen in the desert. 

You had tracked them to a small canyon, but lost sight of them the further in they went. 

You tried your best to sneak around, but the blaring of blaster fire quickly sent a chill down your spine. They were being ambushed. 

The universe had provided another perfect distraction, so you wasted no time in climbing into the canyon. The first thing you saw was the Mandalorian being attacked by three Trandoshan warriors. 

Perfect. He was distracted. You moved down the slope and into the canyon, expertly keeping away from sight. 

The carrier was turned away from you, but the hatch was open. What was the Mandalorian protecting with all his strength?

You reached out for the carrier and slowly turned it around. That’s when you saw it for the first time. 

Its large ears and green skin stopped you in your tracks for a moment, but its bright eyes bore into your soul and left you empty. 

They wanted you to acquire a child. A fucking child. 

An anger coated chill ran down your spine as time seemingly stood still. There was something special about this child, something you couldn’t quite grasp, as if it were on the tip of your tongue, and yet so out of reach. 

You barely registered the fight turning around to face you. But as eyes started falling on the child, you quickly pushed the carrier away as a Trandoshan warrior shot at it. 

The blast ricocheted off the carrier, giving you enough time to roll away from the Mandalorian’s line of sight.  
You quickly placed your back against a rock formation as the Mandalorian finished off the rest of the Trandoshan. 

Your heart was racing, but your mind even more so. How could the guild not know what the target was? And why would they be so desperate to acquire something so seemingly harmless?

But you didn’t have time to think, at least not here. You took one last glance at the child, its eyes glued to you, as if it could hear your thoughts, and climbed back out of the canyon. 

You waited a long time outside of that canyon for them to leave, which only allowed your mind to roam further. 

If the Mandalorian was going to be true to his word, that meant he would hand over the child to a man you knew deep within your skin was evil and had nothing but bad intentions. 

You had to stop him. 

You decided the logical next step would be to go back to your ship. Since the tracking fob was still on, you could track them easier from the skies. 

By the time you made it back to your ship, it was starting to get dark outside. You were tired and hungry, so you made yourself some water bread and beans and passed out, determined to start the next morning where you left off. 

The next morning you managed to wake up earlier than the one before. All the stress and noise from the previous day had caught up to you and there was nothing you wanted more than to continue sleeping. But if you were going to rescue the child, you had to be your sharpest self. 

You managed to change into a new pair of clothes and connect the tracking fob to your ships internal map. Once the asset appeared on your screen, you immediately took to the skies. 

You decided to fly higher than initially intended, scared that Mandalorian was going to spot you and freak out.  
But you quickly realized that was not a problem as you flew over the remnants of what you assumed was his ship. The crappy pre-empire ship looked like it had been stripped for parts, but you couldn’t see the Mandalorian or the child anywhere.

You continued to follow the tracker, as it took you further and further into…

Jawa territory. As soon as you saw their transport, you cursed under your breath. There was no way you could land far away enough and make it to the Mandalorian in time to take the child. 

It was a wasted opportunity, and all because of the annoying little thieves. 

You decided to hover for a while, using your long range macrobinoculars to spy on the Mandalorian. 

You had gathered that he had made a friend on the surface, someone who was helping him negotiate with the Jawas. The early afternoon sun was starting to heat everything up when they struck up a deal. 

The sandcrawler began moving somewhere and you followed closely as they arrived at a strange cave in the ground. 

Your mind started racing, thinking about all the possibilities of monster that could live in such spaces, but most importantly, you were angry the Mandalorian would endanger the child in such a careless way. 

You watched on, holding your breath as the Mandalorian entered the cave, leaving the child behind. This could’ve been your perfect opportunity, but alas, there was nothing you could do now. 

Suddenly, blaster fire erupted from the cave as the Mandalorian was thrown out onto the mud by a—of course. A Mudhorn. You should’ve known, Jawas are notorious for wanting delicacies they can’t easily acquire. 

You watched on as the Mandalorian struggled with his rifle and ultimately got pinned down by the Mudhorn. And just when you thought he couldn’t be more of an idiot, he latched onto the side of the beast with his grappling hook, which led him to get dragged through the mud. 

And with one last hit, the Mandalorian was sent flying onto the ground, with an eerie thud. You were on the edge of your ship, desperately wanting to do something, so save the child before the beast would get bored of the Mandalorian and go after it next. 

But then, something insane happened. Just as the Mandalorian got up and the Mudhorn got ready to ram into him once more, the child lifted up his hand and protected the Mandalorian with the Force. 

The Mudhorn began to float, unable to do anything but panic. Which led you into a panic. 

Everything made sense now. Why your employer wanted the child to desperately and was willing to pay you off into royalty. 

But just as soon as it started, the child couldn’t hold the Force any longer. It fell back into his carrier, completely spent and the Mudhorn fell right back down on the ground. But this time, the Mandalorian was prepared. He jammed a knife right into its side and the Mudhorn fell. 

This couldn’t be happening. If you thought your mind was racing before, it truly was racing now. You needed to get to that child, you needed to protect it. 

Your fuel was running low, so you decided to land in a small town and try to make it to Nevarro before the Mandalorian could.


	3. The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You arrive at Nevarro ready to rescue the child on your own, but before you can, you're surprised by an unwanted idiot who changed his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been writing for five days straight so here's another chapter because why not.

You didn’t make it in time. 

You had trailed the Mandalorian all the way from the hanger where he had left his ship, but it looked as though he was parading the child through the mercenary crowded streets of Nevarro, which didn’t make it hard to follow him. 

He was too out in the open and you couldn’t make your move. And thus, the Mandalorian and the child entered a building guarded by stormtroopers. 

Fuck. 

You decided to lay low and wait for the Mandalorian to leave, walking around the building a few times trying to decipher its security mechanisms and hatch a plan to get the child back. 

You found a back door that wasn’t as heavily guarded, and decided that would be your way in. You made your way back into the main street, looking for a cantina to wait until nightfall. 

Just as you entered the street, the Mandalorian was escorted out by two stormtroopers, carrying what looked to be a carrying vault. 

For a second as he stepped out, his eyes landed on you. You don’t know why, but his presence made you freeze in place. It wasn’t as if he knew who you were, or what that you’d been following the last few days. 

And just as quickly as it happened, the Mandalorian walked away. Part of you wanted to see where he was going to, but you had no time to waste. 

You walked into the cantina, still a little on edge and sat down at the bar. But before you could even get a drink, you hear your name getting called. 

Annoyed, you roll your eyes before plastering on a phony smile and turning to face Greef Karga, the Guild’s leader and the man who hired you to acquire the child. 

He motioned you over, a little impatiently and you got off your seat and sauntered over to him. 

“How are you, dear?” He said you sat down in front of him. 

“How do you think I’m doing?” 

The look on your face says it all. But instead of taking offense, Greef lets out a full belly laugh. 

“I’m guessing you heard?”

“Well, it wasn’t hard to get wind. A Mandalorian? Seriously? Where did you even find one?” You motion to the barkeep to bring over drinks. 

“What can I say, they get the job done and don’t ask questions.”

“More like soulless if you ask me.” Drinks are placed in front of you. You pick one up and down it in one go. 

“I didn’t peg you for a sour loser, besides, there will always be more jobs.” 

You force a smile, not wanting to patronize the man who literally kept you alive. 

“Do you know what the asset was?” You ask, trying to hide the hint of curiosity from your voice. 

“It is not our job to ask questions.”

“Right.” You down the other drink, since he didn’t seem eager to drink it. “I’ll see you around.”

You got up to leave, but things are never that easy with Greef. 

“Wait, do you still have that tracking fob I gave you?”

Your mind starts to race, what lie do you tell? Should you give it back?

You slowly turn around, embarrassed, or at least enough that he’d believe it. 

“I actually lost it…I didn’t even get to the asset in time.” 

Greef takes a moment to think about it, but ultimately decides it’s not a big deal. 

“Alright. Come back to see me when you want another job.”

You gladly nod and walk away from his table as quickly as “normal” would allow. You toss a coin to the barkeep for his troubles. Once you’re out the door, you don’t look back, you just keep walking. 

You ended up camping out a few alleys away from the building where they were keeping the child. And as the sun went down on the horizon, you stealthily made your way towards the back door. 

You knew there were no cameras around it, but one old computer panel that would probably not work, but that wasn’t going to stop you from trying. 

You hunched over the panel and quickly made use of your lightsaber knife to cut out the box into the wires and get to work. 

You disconnect a green cable and connect a blue one into that port instead. You then flip an internal switch and lastly cut an orange cable, which leads to the door sliding open like magic. 

Proud of yourself, you put the box back over the cables and entered the building, alert and ready to fight.

You sneaked through the back, which was filled with strange crates and boxes. You continued forward, towards the front of the building, when two stormtroopers walked past you. You managed to duck out of view and into a supply closet where you could hear muffled voices. 

“I order you to extract the necessary material and be done with it.” Someone said. 

“He has explicitly told us to bring it back alive.” Another, more afraid voice responded. 

“Finish your business quickly, as I no longer can guarantee your safety.” 

Safety?

You heard someone leaving the room and march down the hallway. 

You waited a moment before peeking out of the closet to make sure the coast was clear. But just as you did, you heard a commotion at the front of the house. 

You went back into your hiding place as six stormtroopers made their way down to the entrance. 

You decided to take the distraction as a good sign and crept out of your hiding place and into the room beside it. 

When you entered, you saw a man, he looked like a scientist, hovering over the child who laid unnaturally still under a strange machine. 

You unholstered your blaster and pointed it at him. 

“Step away from the child.” You said, as calmly as possible. 

The man practically leapt out of his skin in fear and cowered into the corner. 

“Please don’t shoot him! He’s just a child.” 

You made sure to point your blaster at him instead of the child, as if to say you weren’t here to kill it. 

“What’s wrong with him?” The man didn’t answer you. “Tell me, now!”

“They wanted his blood! I don’t—”

Boom. A wall explodes not far from where you are. Now you’re starting to get concerned. 

The building goes into lockdown, alarms blaring red. You can hear the child mumble something behind you. 

Without a second to waste, you shot the machine and carefully lifted it out from under it and into your arms. 

You’re about to turn around when you hear it. 

“Don’t move.” 

You didn’t need to do much thinking to know exactly whose voice that was. 

The Mandalorian. 

“Turn around, slowly.”

You slowly turned around to face him, blaster pointed at him while the child slept soundly in your other arm. 

“Give me the child.” 

“I’m afraid I won’t be doing that.”

“I’m here to take it back.”

“And I’m here to take it with me. You left it alone and collected your bounty, there’s nothing left for you to do here.”

You knew you were playing fire with fire, but you couldn’t help but need to win this right now. You’d been angry at him for days…even if he had no idea who you were. 

“There’ll be a dozen stormtroopers surrounding us soon, so I’d suggest you let me leave before they catch you in here too.” You say in a commanding tone. 

He thinks for a second before nodding. “You help me get the child out of here alive and then we can fight about who gets to keep it.” 

You knew it was the logical thing to do, but you still didn’t want to do it. 

“Fine.”


	4. The Enemy of my Enemy is my Enemy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You join forces with the Mandalorian to get the child out safely, but like all good things, it comes to an end in a rather dramatic way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Upload schedule? What's that?

You decided to flank left while the Mandalorian took the right. 

You had made the decision to follow his lead, for whatever reason you had faith he had a better plan to get out than you. 

You had made it through the hallway undetected, hiding behind crates as two stormtroopers walked by. 

But by the next room, they spotted you. 

Blaster fire filled the room as you both dropped to the ground, getting cover from the crates and boxes.

“Split up, we’ll flush them out.” One of the stormtroopers said. 

With the lights off, it was hard for them to see where they were going, and easy for you to sneak around undetected. 

You stuck to your sides, but the Mandalorian was quickly found. A scuffle ensued, and a thought rushed through your head:

You could leave him behind. 

The thought clouded your mind for a moment too long, which caused the other stormtrooper to find and attack you. 

You managed to snap out of it as you dodged the blaster fire and expertly shot back. The body dropped to the ground, but you were already moving away from it. 

Before you could register it, a third stormtrooper entered the room, gunning for you. The Mandalorian threw himself between you and expertly electrocuted him before he could get to you or the child. 

“Thanks.” You tried to sound as ungrateful as possible, but you knew it didn’t work. 

He moved to the next room on your left and you followed diligently. 

A stormtrooper entered through the top, you fired at it while the Mandalorian used his flame thrower to incapacitate the other coming from the bottom. 

Both stormtroopers fell dead, but again, you waste no time in walking over them and into the next room. 

You enter into a large storage room. You walk towards the next door but suddenly, four stormtroopers ambush you in the middle of the room. 

“Freeze! Don’t move.” One of them says. 

You hold your ground, blasters out and ready to shoot. 

“Hands up, drop the blaster!” Another one behind you says. 

“Wait, what she’s holding is very valuable,” The Mandalorian says. “Here.”

He looks back at you and slowly puts his blaster on the floor, silently urging you to do the same. 

He has a plan. 

You decide to trust your gut and follow his lead, slowly getting on your knees and placing your own blaster on the floor. 

You hold the child close to you, getting ready to protect it with your body if you have to. 

“Now turn and face me.” A stormtrooper orders. 

The Mandalorian slowly turns towards the one speaking, but as he does, he loads the whistling bird on his hand. You notice. 

“Stand up.”

“Stay still.” The Mandalorian says to you as he slowly stands up. 

In a matter of seconds, his hand erupts with four guided munitions that make their way to each of the stormtroopers. 

Small explosions occur, sending the troopers to the ground. 

You hold the child tightly, hiding it away from the loud noises. 

You don’t notice, but the Mandalorian sees you do this. 

“It’s clear.” He says after the dust clears. 

You look up at him and then around the room at the bodies. For the first time it registers that they were actual people. 

You shake the thought away and pick up his blaster. You hand it over before picking up your own and getting back on your feet. 

Without another word, he moves out of the room, you follow suit, the child finally starting to wriggle around in your arms. 

You make it down an empty hallway, and through the front door back into the street. 

The Mandalorian exits first, stepping aside for you to exit after him, but as you do, he sticks his foot out in front of you, causing you to fall to the ground as he smoothly grabs the child from your arms. 

Your face hits the ground and you growl in annoyance. 

But once you turn back to face him, he’s already gone. 

“Motherfucker!” You get up on your feet and start to run in the direction of his ship, when a beeping coming from your tool belt stops you. 

You look for the source, finding the tracking fob for the child has been activated once more. 

“Fuck.”

You sprint through the streets of Nevarro, fully aware that every bounty hunter in town would have the same fob as you and would definitely take this opportunity to go after the child. And, like an oblivious idiot, the Mandalorian didn’t have a clue. 

You spotted him at the end of the road. 

“Wait—!” You yelled after him, but before he could even register your words, the bounty hunters had him surrounded.

From the shadows, Greef Karga steped out. He looked angry. 

“Welcome back, Mando,” He said in an eerily calm voice. “Now put the package down.”

You watched in disbelief as people you knew and would’ve called friends cornered him further. But if he was afraid, he did not show it. 

“Step aside, I’m going to my ship.” The Mandalorian said. 

You tentatively took a step back and into an alleyway, hoping you could get closer to him by going around.

You heard Greef chuckle softly. “You put the bounty down and perhaps I will let you pass.”

Shit, shit, shit. 

“The kid’s coming with me.”

“If you truly care about the kid, then you’ll put it on the speeder, and we’ll discuss terms.”

You had made it to the alley behind the speeder. For a brief second, your gaze and the Mandalorian’s met. You don’t know how, but you could hear the chuckle in his gaze at your dirty face and ruined clothes. 

“How do I know I can trust you?” He said, originally you thought he was talking to Greef, but the more he stared at you the clearer it became that he was talking to you. 

You took a deep breath and nodded. Whatever you do, I’ve got your back. 

“Because I’m your only hope.” Greef responded. 

The Mandalorian slowly moved towards the speeder as you hid against the alley walls, hoping to every God out there that you wouldn’t be spotted. 

He looked at the sleeping child in his arms one last time while everyone around him was on high alert. 

And then, he fired, and all hell broke loose. 

From your hiding place, you shot two bounty hunters closest to him on the legs which gave him enough time to throw himself into the back of the speeder cart. The bounty hunters began shooting at it, so you continued to fire at those who were closest. 

The Mandalorian turned to the droid pulling the speeder and told it to drive. When the droid refused, he pointed his blaster at it, and they were off. 

You tried your best to follow them, but the streets and roofs were full of too many bounty hunters. 

And so, as they continued to make it down the street, the Mandalorian used his body to shield the child from snipers up on the roofs. 

But just when you thought they were going to make it through, Greef shot the droid pulling the speeder, causing the Mandalorian to be stranded once again. 

You cursed under your breath and entered the street, carefully sneaking around and hiding behind anything in order to not be detected. 

A strange lull filled the air as the bounty hunters moved in further towards the Mandalorian. 

And just like that, everything erupted into chaos once more. The Mandalorian positioned himself with his rifle and started shooting, disintegrating bounty hunters left and right. 

“That’s one impressive weapon!” You heard Greef call out. His voice was deeper, more afraid. 

You stood still behind a crate, waiting out the fire like everyone else. 

“Here’s what I’m gonna do,” The Mandalorian said. “I’m gonna walk to my ship, with the kid, and you’re gonna let it happen.” 

He’s confident, you’ll give him that. 

But Greef was always prepared. “No. How about this? We take the kid, and if you try to stop us, we kill you and strip your body for parts.”

You peeked over the crate towards the Mandalorian. He hadn’t noticed that someone was sneaking up on him. 

“Behind you!” You yelled from your hiding place, staying as still as possible, hoping that no one would find you. 

The Mandalorian got it though, and kicked the barrel behind him, throwing the bounty hunter off balance. He quickly stood back up and shocked him with the tail end of his rifle, shooting a second one immediately after. 

The shooting continued immediately as the bounty hunters advanced on the cart. But he wasn’t the only one in trouble. 

Two bounty hunters had circled back, determined to find whoever was helping the Mandalorian and make them pay. 

You saw them walking past your hiding place, and knew it was only a matter of time before they turned around to face you, so you decided to strike. 

You shot one of them in the leg and they quickly fell to the ground, while the other reacted, you jumped on her and twisted your legs around her throat, pulling her down to the ground and hitting her across the head with your blaster. 

You turned to face the Mandalorian, who had resorted to using his flame thrower once more to try and create more space between him and the rest of the bounty hunters. 

You picked up a sniper rifle off the ground and rushed towards a rooftop, determined to help him out all the way through. 

But he was surrounded, and you didn’t see an outcome where both of you would make it out of there in one piece. 

You were about to get into a building to access its roof when you saw it, a streak of light across the sky. And suddenly, boom!

Half a dozen other Mandalorians flew from ground and into the battlefield. You couldn’t believe your eyes. It looked like something out of a battle song, a fairytale you’d been told when you were younger. You couldn’t help but stare as they flew over buildings and opened fire on the remaining bounty hunters. 

They drew the bounty hunter’s fire, easily taking them all out in seconds. The once outnumbered fight had finally gotten even, and it forced the remaining bounty hunters to retreat. 

It took you almost too long to hide in order to avoid their wrath, but once you did, your amazement never wavered. 

“Get out of here, we’ll hold them off.” You heard another Mandalorian say. 

“You’re going to have to relocate the covert.” Your Mandalorian replied, concern in his voice. 

“This is the Way.” 

You watched their interaction closely and expected there to be a short exchange of words. But to your surprise, the Mandalorian put no opposition at all. 

“This is the Way.” He replied, picking up the child and running away towards his ship. 

You tried to go after him, but there was nowhere to go that wasn’t through an active battlefield. 

You cursed under your breath once more and quickly disappeared into the shadows before the fighting found you. 

You made it out of the town too late, and as you watched, the Mandalorian’s ship took off into the night and out of the planet. 

The fight raged on behind you, but all that mattered was gone once again. And as you stood there catching your breath, you remembered one thing that could still be of use. 

The tracking fob.


	5. A Sour Victory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You finally get to have the upper hand and catch the Mandalorian off guard, but even then, he will never let give you the satisfaction you deserve.

It didn’t take you long to track him. You’d left soon after him, and the second he emerged from hyperspace, you followed the fob. 

It wasn’t long before you were in Sorgan, an unsuspecting farming planet. You landed your ship closer to civilization this time, knowing you were going to need a quick escape. 

You left your ship immediately, not really wanting to lose any more time and eager to get back at the Mandalorian for the last few days. 

You walked around an outdoor market for a little, observing the people and their behavior. Nothing jumped out as unordinary, they were all content with their lives and were incredibly peaceful at that. 

And that’s when you spotted him. It wasn’t hard, he was basically a walking tin man that could probably be seen from space. 

You followed them into a local restaurant, trying your best to not look suspicious. But the overwhelming feeling of finally surprising the man who couldn’t be surprised had started to make you giddy. 

You saw him sit down across the room, with the child! And talk to a waitress for what seemed like forever. He slid some coins towards her and asked something about…a woman in the back of the room. 

You looked over, curious as to why he was so interested. She was beautiful, tall and broad, as if she could tear a log in half with her bare hands if she wanted to. 

You watched as she realized she was being watched and slid out of her chair, smoothly exited the local restaurant. When the waitress moved away, allowing the Mandalorian to realize she was gone. 

That’s when you made your move. 

You walked right up to their table, hoping he would think you were the waitress and tell you off. 

He turned back to look at you and his entire body stiffened. You honestly didn’t know how you noticed, but you could tell he was furious under that helmet. Furious about the inconvenience and even more so that the woman he’d been spying on was gone, and he now had two crazy women to deal with. 

And then the strangest thing happened. He stood up, stare still trained on you and said, “Look after the child.”

You were confused out of your mind, but before you could say anything, he strutted out of the place after the other woman. 

You stood there for a moment, not really sure what had just happened. When did you become such close friends?

But before you could get angry about how he somehow managed to cock block your moment of triumph, the waitress came back with broth and meat for the child. 

She set them on the table and asked if you wanted anything, and since the Mandalorian was paying, you asked for a full hot meal. 

You sat next to the child as she left to get that for you and helped him start eating and drinking his food. But before you could feed him the first spoonful, he grabbed his bowl jumped off his chair and started to waddle out of the local restaurant, no doubt looking for the Mandalorian. 

You rolled your eyes and followed him out, picking him up on the way. 

You found the Mandalorian and the woman sprawled on the floor, fighting. You weren’t sure if they were both incredibly skilled or incredibly average, but they had managed to arrive at a draw, their blasters drawn on the other. 

The child took a loud slurp of the broth, garnering both of their attention towards you. 

“Hey.” The woman said. 

“Hi.” You quickly replied, your mind racing unstoppably. 

“Would you like some broth?” The Mandalorian interrupted. You weren’t sure who he was talking about as you all made your way back into the local restaurant. 

It turns out he wasn’t talking to you, as they sat down in a table alone and you were stuck with the child. It wasn’t that you didn’t want its company, of course you did, but the rivalry you had built over the last few days didn’t have the satisfactory ending you wanted, especially since you knew it was mostly one sided. You, sided. 

In his mind, you’d only been helping him…even if that wasn’t your goal all along. But now that you sat there, looking after the first Force inclined child you’d seen in a long time, you started to wonder why you hadn’t run away. 

After a short conversation between the two, the woman finished her broth and walked away. The Mandalorian’s shoulders sagged a little, but soon enough, he stood up and joined you and the child at your table. 

The anxiety rose again as he sat down, making you remember that you weren’t quite as safe as you thought you might be. You carefully unholstered your blaster and pointed it at him under the table, just to be safe. 

“How did you find us?” He asked without a second thought. 

“I’ve been tracking you since Arvala-7,” you finally got to say, which stunned him into silence. “These were reactivated the second you left with the child.” You take the tracking fob out of your tool belt and place it on the table. 

You tried to act disinterested, as you helped the child with his second portion of broth. This kid could definitely eat a whole grinjer if it was placed in front of him. 

The Mandalorian took one look at the fob and raised his fist to smash it to pieces, but before he could, you caught his hand and snatched the fob from under him.

You stare at each other for a moment, before he pulled his hand from yours in defeat. A small victory under your belt, you pocketed the fob once more, just in case he decided to flee again. 

“They’re never going to stop, you know?” You said. “You should just give me the child and be on your way. I can protect it.”

The Mandalorian took a moment to think. He watched the child and how comfortable it was with you. It let you hold it, feed it and didn’t flinch or try to run away. 

“He likes you.” He finally muttered. 

Now it was your time to study him. It was hard, given that you couldn’t see the emotions on his face, but you’d been getting better at reading his body language, since he’d been your sole focus for the past few days. 

“And he likes you,” you reply. “He’d be safe with either of us, and I believe I am owed a rematch.”

The Mandalorian let out a boisterous chuckle that took the air out of your lungs and left you very confused. Did he not see you as a threat?

His laugh resided the second he saw your reaction, as if he realized he unintentionally hurt your feelings. 

“I propose a truce,” he finally says. You’re clearly not happy about the proposition. “You said it yourself, they won’t stop coming for him and two people protecting him is better than one.”

You process his words for a moment. And then it hits you. 

“Was this a test? To see if you could trust me with it and not run away?”

He didn’t answer. 

“We can’t stay here; this planet is already taken by one fugitive.” He changed the subject like it was nothing out of the ordinary. “We’ll camp out here tonight and we can discuss in the morning.”

And with that, he left the table. Annoyed, you looked down at the child, who had started trying to eat noodles with his bare hands. 

“Did he really just decide I’m coming with him?”

The child didn’t answer, instead, the Mandalorian returned, as if he’d forgotten something. 

“What did you say your name was?” Was all he said. 

You shot him your most condescending stare and told him your name. “What’s yours?” 

But he was gone again. 

You rolled your eyes. Was this going to work?


	6. The Ugly Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After making plans to leave Sorgan, you find yourself in route to a remote village and you find out the true intentions of the Mandalorian to keep you around.

The Mandalorian took the child after that and went back to his ship to get it ready for travel the next day. He left you with a comlink, which you found oddly reassuring that he wasn’t going to try and run from you again. 

After saying goodbye to the child, you returned to your ship, determined to start packing your things. And just as you were about to do that—

“I need you.” 

You heard his voice over the comlink. You rushed over to it, concerned something had gone wrong already. 

“What do you need?” You responded. 

“I’m sending you my location. A job just came up and I need your help. Bring your things.”

And with that, you put on your gear, gathered all of your most valued possessions and headed right back out. 

You made it to his shitty ship a while later, equipped for a fight. When you arrived, you noticed the Mandalorian and two men unloading boxes from the Razor Crest. 

“Good, you’re here.” He said when he saw you, putting down a box in a speeder cart. 

He extended his hand and you handed over your bag. 

“Where are we going?”

“We’re getting rid of Raiders, in exchange for lodging in their village.” He said, placing your bag on the speeder cart. 

“We’re hiding?” You asked. 

“No, I’m not hiding. I need you to look after the child while I take care of our end of the bargain.”

“That’s your big plan? Go after a band of Raiders by yourself?” 

“No.” And with that he walked over to the men. “I’m gonna need one more thing, give me those credits.”

One of the men handed him a bag and he was off into the night. 

“I could help, you know!” You yelled after him. 

“Just get the child.”

This was not going to work. 

He came back a while after, the woman from earlier in tow. You had finished loading the speeder with everything you both would ever possibly need. The child sat comfortably in the middle, watching the stars intently. 

“Ready to go?” He asked, in a tone that told you he didn’t care about the answer. 

“Sure.” You responded, just as coldly before turning to the woman from earlier and extending your hand to her. You told her your name as she shook your hand. 

“Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise. I’m Cara, Cara Dune.”

You both followed the Mandalorian onto the speeder and then you were off into the darkness of the night, not really prepared for anything that would come your way. 

The ride was long and slow. Cara and the Mandalorian were talking shop, but neither was really that concerned about what they had to accomplish. 

You decided to wallow in your thoughts and stay angry at the Mandalorian for giving you babysitting duty. You knew you could fight, even better that those two combined. But if they thought they “had it handled”, then you’d let them get their asses kicked before you talked about your feelings. 

Before you knew it, you had fallen asleep, the child curled up against you. 

You awoke to the sound of children laughing. It was a strange sound, and it took you back to a place you didn’t want to be. Your body started shaking as you tried to hold back the dark memories, and before they could consume you, you felt someone shaking you awake. 

You slowly came to, the blurry shape of the Mandalorian over you. His hand was on your shoulder, gently shaking you back to reality. 

“I’m awake.” You said, wanting nothing more than for him to stop. He removed his hand and got out of the cart, followed by Cara. 

You got up into a sitting position, the child beside you, looking at you with giant eyes full of concern. You flashed it a reassuring smile before picking him up and joining the others. 

The village was modest to say the most. Part of the land had been farmed into a perfectly round circle which also hosted around fifteen beautifully constructed huts. It was beautiful. 

From a fugitive’s point of view, it was secluded and gave you enough cover to pick apart anyone that might come through here to get the child. And from a social point of view, it was filled with the laughter of children and enough people to not have to socialize with the Mandalorian every day. 

The children rushed over to you to try and get a look at the child. 

“Well, looks like they’re happy to see us.” The Mandalorian said beside you. 

“Looks like.” Cara replied. 

You put the child down and picked up your bag as the Mandalorian went ahead to check out your new living situation. 

When you caught up with him, he was talking to a woman from the village. 

“…I hope this is comfortable for you.” You heard her say. “Sorry that all we have is the barn.”

The child waddled inside after the Mandalorian. 

“This will do fine.” He said in that cold voice that told you nothing. 

“I stacked some blankets over here.”

“Thank you, that’s very kind.”

You watched as a girl sneaked up behind them both, trying to get a look at the child. The Mandalorian reacted aggressively, turning around ready to fight her and she ran away, the woman rushed after her. 

Annoyed, you entered the barn right after, dead set on giving him a piece of your mind. You shot him a death glare, but before you could say anything, the woman came back with the girl. 

“This is my daughter Winta.” She announced. “We don’t get a lot of visitors around here.” 

You waved to the girl, trying to be as friendly as possible. She waved back, but she was definitely more interested in the child than she was either of you. 

“She’s not used to strangers.” She explained. “These nice people are going to help protect us from the bad ones.”

You couldn’t help but smile at that. 

“Thank you.” You heard the girl say under her breath. 

The Mandalorian stood there, not knowing what to say. 

“You’re welcome. And thank you again for accommodating us in such short notice.” You quickly blurted, not wanting to antagonize your hosts. 

The woman nods, appreciatively. “Come on Winta, let’s give our guests some room.”

Once they’re gone, you catch the Mandalorian staring after them. You softly hit him on his chest, trying to get him out of his trance. 

“Nice one.” 

You spent the rest of the morning organizing the barn to be a livable space. The child even got himself a crib to sleep in. 

The Mandalorian hadn’t said a word to you all morning, instead, he focused on polishing his rifle and getting ready for the mission ahead. 

It was near lunchtime when the woman and her daughter came back to the barn. She carried two plates of food while her daughter had a handful of mushrooms. 

“Can I feed him?” The girl asked. 

“Sure.” You said, receiving a plate from the woman. “I didn’t catch your name earlier.”

“Oh, it’s Omera.” She replied, clearly not interested in conversing with you. 

You tell her your name and she nods absentmindedly as she stares at the Mandalorian. 

You can’t help but roll your eyes and sit down on the ground to eat your food. 

“Can I play with him?” The girl asked the Mandalorian. 

“Sure.” Was all he said, as he picked him up and placed him on the floor. The two kids walk out of the barn. 

He turned to you; his back was stiff. 

“Go with them.” He said. 

“They’ll be fine.” Omera interjected. 

“But—”

“They’ll be fine.” 

You watched them bicker. It was fun to see him taken down a peg. 

“I brought you some food.” She motioned to the discarded plate beside you. “I’ll leave it here for when I go.”

“That’s very thoughtful of you.” He said, clearly trying to make you feel bad for not giving him privacy like she was. 

You stood up and made your way to the other side of the room and pulled a makeshift curtain across the room, dividing it into two. 

You sat back down to eat, but after a moment of silence, she was still there. 

“Do you mind if I ask you something?” She blurted out. 

“Go ahead.”

You could probably cut the tension with a butter knife. 

“How long has it been since you’ve taken that off?” 

“Yesterday.” 

You wanted to leap out and punch him. 

“I mean in front of someone else.”

“I wasn’t much older than they are.” He replied, you assumed talking about the kids outside. 

“You haven’t shown your face to anyone since you were a kid?” 

You processed the information for a while. You knew Mandalorian culture was intense, but you never thought it was this crazy. 

“No. I was happy that they took me in. My parents were killed and the Mandalorians took care of me.”

You were annoyed that the most information you’d gotten out of him wasn’t even directed at you, but you were glad he was actually capable of opening up. 

“I’m sorry.” She sounded truly remorseful. 

“This is the Way.” 

And just like that he had made is awkward again. 

“Let us know if there’s anything you need.” Was the last thing she said before leaving the barn. 

He promptly closed the door and windows and sat down on the floor. You continued to eat in silence as you heard him take off his helmet and place it beside himself. 

“My parents died when I was young too,” You finally said. You knew he was listening, just waiting for you to finish your story. “I was left in an orphanage in Coruscant when I was seven.”

Your words were met with heavy silence. 

“What I’m trying to say is that I understand what you said about finding family and feeling like you were being protected…even if maybe that might not have been the case.”

“I had lost everything, and they showed me the Way.” He restated. You’d hit a nerve. 

You sigh, deeply, trying to stand your ground but also not say something that you would regret. 

“I also thought the people who took me in gave me everything. But it took me leaving that way of life behind to truly understand how wrong I had been.”

Silence. 

“I know you might not see it like that now, but—”

“Stop, let me eat in peace.”

And so, you did. You finished your meals in silence as you pondered what kind of messed up thinks happened to him that would make him look at the world this way.


	7. I Can Take Care of Myself

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cara and Mando find out the Raiders have a secret weapon and you force them to stand up and fight. But their plan quickly goes sideways...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just women being badass.

You had fallen asleep in the barn. You were awoken by the child, who looked a little concerned. 

“Hey little guy,” you tried to calm it down. “What’s wrong?”

You stood up, groggily and picked him up. 

“Is he gone?” You ask it, slowly pulling back the curtain to reveal an empty barn. 

You sigh in relief but also annoyance as you exit the barn back out into the sunny world. 

You walk around for a while, people watching mostly, but also trying to find Winta and her mother to ask for more food for the child. 

You found Omera sitting in front of her house threading a basket. 

“Hi,” you said, tentatively. 

She finally shot you a genuine smile, since the Mandalorian wasn’t around to pull her attention elsewhere. 

“Is everything alright?” She asked as you sat down beside her with the child. 

“Everything is fine.” You quickly responded, not really in the mood to get into it. “I just wanted to see if you had some more food for the child.”

“Let me see what I can find.” She promptly stood up and entered her home. 

You sat there, out of place and out of mind, with the child sitting between your legs. 

In a moment of true boredom, you picked up the basket and continued to weave it together. 

You’d done this before, so it was easy to get the hang of what the pattern was. You had basically finished it when you spotted the Mandalorian and Cara walking towards you. 

She looked like she’d seen a ghost and he…well he just looked. 

“We need to talk.” He said to you, not slowing down. 

Confused, you put the basket down. Thankfully, Winta came around at the perfect time. You handed her the child as Cara helped you up from the ground and you both followed the Mandalorian back to the barn. 

Once inside, he closed the door behind you. The air was dry, as if an electric storm was about to strike. 

“What did you find?” You finally asked, the curiosity killing you. 

“An AT-ST.” Cara responded before Mando could. 

You stared at her in stunned silence. “There’s no way.”

“There were tracks.” Mando said coldly. 

“If there is something like that out there, this town would’ve been wiped out by now.” You couldn’t believe it. 

“We have to assume they were lucky, maybe it hasn’t found them yet.” Cara tried to reason with you. 

“They’re going to have to move.” Mando stated. 

“We can take it down.” You fired back. “It’s not as impossible as—”

“The three of us could never take something like that down.” Cara tried to reason with you. 

“But—” 

“This was not what we signed up for.”

You looked between the two, panicked and confused. Your eyes landed on the Mandalorian, angry and afraid. “So, you’re just going to continue running away?”

He didn’t answer. 

“You both made a promise to these people. How is it that I’m the one trying to keep it?”

You could hear the townspeople outside the barn, clearly gathering to hear you scream. 

“We’ll put it up for a vote, then.” You said, trying to somehow speak some sense into them. 

The Mandalorian sighed, deeply, but stepped out to address the people. You both followed suit. 

“Bad news. You can’t live here anymore.” He said. 

And obviously, the people were upset. 

“Nice bedside manner,” Cara whispered to him. 

“You think you can do better?” He took a step back to join you as Cara stepped forward to address the crowd. 

“I know this is not the news you wanted to hear, but there are no other options.”

“You took the job!” One of the men that hired you rebutted. 

“That was before we knew about the AT-ST.”

“What is that?”

“The armored walker with two enormous guns that you knew about and didn’t tell us.”

The crowd continued to plead with them, asking them to help. 

“We have nowhere to go.” Omera chimed in. 

As soon as he heard her voice, you noticed his demeanor change. 

“Sure you do, this is a big planet. I mean, I’ve seen a lot smaller.” Cara continued to try and reason with them. But to no avail. 

“My grandparents seeded these ponds. It took generations!” 

“I understand, I do, but there are only two of us.” Cara looked back at you and for a moment she regretted her answer. 

It made you furious, so you decided to push your agenda one step further and chime in from the back. “We could train you. Together we would have at least twenty people. That could work.”

They immediately agreed with you. The Mandalorian didn’t like that. 

“We can’t turn them into fighters in a day.” The Mandalorian whispered to you. 

“Oh, I’m not the one training them, remember? I have to take care of the child.”

He knew why you were upset, and it had finally started to click that maybe he’d been treating you like shit. But he would never admit it. 

“We can learn!”

“Give us a chance, please!”

“I’ve seen that thing take out entire companies of soldiers in a matter of minutes.” Cara tried to reason with them one last time. 

“We’re not leaving.” Omera stated. 

“You cannot fight that thing.”

“Yes, they can. But you have to show them how.” You stared Cara down, which wasn’t easy. 

But eventually, the Mandalorian stood up, eyes trained on Omera.

“We’ll show you how.”

It was later in the day when they started training. You were still a little on edge, so you decided to take your rifle and walk around the forest for a while. The last thing you heard was that the Mandalorian and Cara were going to take care of the AT-ST while the townspeople delt with the Bandits. 

He saw you leave but didn’t make any effort to stop you. All you wanted was to get as far as possible and not get in their way. You also thought you could find a good enough advantage point in order to snipe a few Bandits. 

You’d walked around for a while when your comlink started buzzing. 

You picked up. “What do you want?”

“Where did you go?” Was all he said. 

“Out, trying to find a good spot with a clear view of the village.”

“I thought we had a deal.”

“The child is fine. I can see him right now.” In part you lied, but just as you did, you came up on a perfect clearing overlooking the village. 

You made yourself at home and started to people watch through your targeting scope. 

“I can see you too.”

You watched as he turned around slowly, trying to find you in the distance. 

You decided to give him a hint and fired a shot just in front of his feet. 

He fell back on the ground, startled. The people around him on high alert. 

“It’s fine.” You heard him say. “It’s fine. Friendly fire.”

You chuckled to yourself, it was the little things that made you feel that much better about your choices in life. 

“Be back here soon. I don’t want you out when everything goes down.”

“I can take care of myself.” 

He was silent for a moment. You watched him try to say something, but the words didn’t come out. 

“Just stay safe out there. The child needs for one of us to survive.”

And that’s when you understood why he had put you on child-watching duty. It wasn’t because you weren’t capable, it was because he understood if something happened to him, you would be the next line of defense. 

It still didn’t justify his behavior towards you, but it did help you understand the nature of your relationship a lot more. 

It wasn’t until nightfall that they made their move. You had continued walking around the perimeter, but the place you’d found earlier was the best one. It was hidden but not too hidden and you had a great advantage point of the entire plan. 

Mando had filled you in right before he and Cara left to find the Raider’s camp and you had to admit, the plan was pretty iron clad. Except for the fact that you knew it wasn’t going to work. 

You tried to tell them that, but just like before, they didn’t believe you. Which is why you were where you were instead of trying to sleep it off with the child. 

You waited in the quiet darkness for something to happen for a long time. 

And then you heard it, the unmistakable boom. It had begun. 

The explosion was followed by a deep echoing of large footsteps that made the earth shake beneath you followed by blaster fire. 

You watched in anticipation as Mando and Cara ran back into the village, still alive at least followed closely behind by the AT-ST. Their entire plan revolved around getting it to step into a hollow pond and waiting for it to drown. 

The thumping got louder and louder. Finally, the walker stepped into the clearing and just about it was about to step into the pond, it stopped. 

You took our your comlink. “What’s going on?”

“It stopped.” Mando relied, you could hear a hint of fear in his voice. 

Just as he said it, the walker shone a light over them, trying to see how many it was fighting against. 

You could hear the Mandalorian telling everyone to get down as to not be seen, but it was too late.

The walker opened fire, destroying one of the homes behind them. And just when it couldn’t get any worse, the Raiders streamed in. 

The townspeople fired back at them, trying their best to hold them back. You helped as much as you could from your spot, hitting a few on the front lines. But there truly was nothing blaster fire could do about the walker. 

“You have to get that thing to step forward!” You yelled through the comlink. 

You fired and watched as Cara took Mando’s rifle and entered the battlefield. You shifted your attention to covering her as she jumped into the pond. 

She tried to lure it forward, but just wasn’t working. 

In a moment of stupidity, you picked up your rifle and ran towards the danger.

You could make out the townspeople giving it their all, but they were still too afraid to cross over out of their safe space. 

“Omera, pull its fire to you!” You yelled into the comlink before throwing everything you were carrying aside and entering the battlefield from the right. 

When she saw you, Omera yelled words of encouragement to her people and they all ran into battle. 

“What the fuck are you doing?” Cara yelled at you from the pond, but you were not listening. 

You took out your lightsaber knife and climbed onto the head of the walker. You were trying to steady yourself on the wobbling walker when you felt it. A searing hot pain on your shoulder. 

You looked down at a Bandit, his blaster trained on you. Thankfully you had backup, and before he could shoot you again, Cara disintegrated it. Ignoring the pain, you quickly twisted the saber and drew a hole on the head, jumping inside and taking out the pilot. You commanded the walker to step forward, finally falling into the deep pond. 

You barely managed to push yourself out as it sunk. Arms were on you quickly, dragging you out of the water. 

You laid on your back, wet and out of breath. You could make out the Mandalorian sitting over you, pushing your hair out of your face and Cara behind you, holding you up into a sitting position and putting pressure on your wound. 

She grabbed your face and turned it to look at her. “That was stupid.”

You couldn’t help but laugh. “But it worked”. 

She shook her head, a smile cracking. 

You turned to look at Mando. He didn’t have anything to say, he just stared at you. 

“I think she deserves a thank you, don’t you?” Cara implied. 

He sighed deeply and looked at you for one more second. 

“Thank you.”

And with that, he stood up and went to check on the rest of the people. 

You couldn’t help but laugh, Cara joining in.


	8. He Does Care?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Your wound causes you trouble, but thankfully the Mandalorian is there to help you...right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sorry.

Cara carried you back into the barn after that. There were still a lot of injured people, so you told her to leave you and go help them. You could handle it. 

She left, after a lot of reassurance and pretending you were alright. But the second she left, you slumped down on the floor and removed the cloth over your wound. 

It looked disgusting. It was wet from the water which had made it gummy and moist, which, even with your brain in a state of deliriousness, it did not look good. 

You started easy, by pushing off your boots. Once those were thrown off, you tried to wriggle out of your pants. Cara had ripped your shirt open in order to get to the wound, so thankfully that was something you didn’t have to do. 

But getting out of your pants was harder than you thought. They were drenched and you were not in the best shape to drag them off yourself. 

You slid over on your side as you kept wriggling, determined to do something on your own. 

“Let me help you with that.” 

You immediately froze. You forced yourself not to curse him out, it wasn’t his fault the universe hated you. 

You turned over to look at Mando standing at the door. 

“I’m okay. Thank you though.” You hoped that was enough for him to drop it and leave you alone in your shame. 

But no, he walked over to you, picked you up off the floor and set you down on top of a crate. 

You sighed deeply, knowing fully well that you didn’t have the energy to fight back. 

He kneeled in front of you and carefully started to drag your pants off your legs. 

For a while, neither of you said anything, you just stared at him, brought down to his knees in front of you because you were too weak to take off your pants.

“The child is safe.” He finally said, breaking the silence. 

You let out a sigh of relief you didn’t know you’d been holding. “That’s good.”

He managed to take out one leg. You both watched in awe as large bruises were already forming.

You could swear he was concerned, and maybe even angry…but not at you, at the thing that had done this to you. You also knew that he took note of all the old scars that littered your body. 

“I’m fine, it’s not that bad.” You tried to reassure him, but the second he looked into your eyes, you started to cry. 

You were tired, bruised and out of fucks to give. He reached out for your face and tried his hardest to wipe away the tears. 

He held your head in his hands, like Cara had done earlier and stared deep into your soul. “You’re alive, and that’s all that matters.”

The words hit a deep nerve. You nodded, as much as you could with his tight grip. Satisfied, he let go and went back to the remaining leg. 

Once the pants were off, he went over to the pile of blankets and picked up a few. 

You tried your best to stand up, but by this point, the adrenaline had left your body. But before you could crash, Mando’s hands were on you, holding you steady. You could tell he was giving you a scolding stare, but you didn’t care. 

He wrapped the blankets around you and set you down on you makeshift bed. He made sure you were comfortable, before turning to leave. But before sleep could take you, you blurted out your feelings, like an idiot. 

“Why do you hate me?”

That stopped him right in his tracks. The silence was deafening as he chose whether to ignore you or turn back to you. 

“I don’t hate you.” He said, his back still turned to you. 

“You don’t trust me to help, you dismiss me when I want to share things with you…you…you care more about what Omera says—”

He immediately turned around, hoping that his cold stare would be enough to shut you up. 

It wasn’t.

“I know you don’t know me, but you chose to bring me along.” Your voice had started to tremble. “At least I deserve to be treated with respect and not like some nanny you hired to do the things you didn’t want to do.”

Mando sighed. He moved to sit down next to you. 

“I’m…sorry.”

His words practically cured you. You turned to him, confused out of your mind. “Am I delirious or did you just—”

“Don’t push it.” He immediately replied. You tried really hard not to laugh as he tried to find something else to say. 

“Do you have anything for blaster wounds? It’s starting to get infected.” You tried to change the subject. 

You could tell he was relieved. 

“No. I’ve been cauterizing my own wounds for a while.”

“Gross. How are you still alive?”

He let out a soft chuckle. And just when things started to look up, you were interrupted. 

“I hope we’re not interrupting.” Omera said from the doorway. She entered the barn, followed by Winta who held the child in her arms. 

“Not at all.” You replied, trying to keep your sarcasm to a minimum. 

Winta placed the child in his crib, who had started to fuss, wanting to be close to you. Meanwhile, Omera sat down in front of you, holding a bowl with a strange paste. 

“To help you heal.” She said, basically asking for permission. 

You laid down on you back, your head over Mando’s leg as she smeared the incredibly smelly paste over your wound. 

You tried not to scream out in pain in fear that the child would jump out of his crib. You tried to focus on anything else, deciding on staring at the Mandalorian. 

He stared right back at you until Omera was done. She placed a bandage over the wound and stood up, waiting for Winta to be done. 

“You’re a good shot.” You say, trying your hardest to be nice. “Thank you.”

Omera nods at you, but you were already drifting to sleep. The last thing you remember was her glancing at Mando, but his eyes are trained on you. 

You heard her and Winta leave before darkness took over…

You woke up in a small, cement room. You’re disoriented from the night before, so it takes you a while to catch up to your surroundings. 

But once you do, fear runs down your spine. 

This is a dream, you tell yourself. You’re fine. This is isn’t real. 

The door is thrown open and a man in an Imperial uniform barges in, two stormtroopers behind him. 

You can’t make out what he’s saying to you, but you know exactly what the words are. You try your hardest to stand your ground, but the stormtroopers easily subdue you, using their electric batons to render you helpless. 

They drag you out of your room into a large hanger. You look around you as a dozen other kids are being dragged just like you. Some are really young, no more than six years old, and some are in their early teens, just like you were. 

You watch, limp and unable to do anything as the take you over to a ship and throw you inside. But just before you hit the floor, you wake up. 

You blink a few times, trying to get your eyes to adjust. You’re in the barn, wrapped in blankets, alone. 

You take a deep breath and try to ground your thoughts before attempting to stand up.

To your surprise, it was easier than you thought. You wriggled out of the blankets and, since you thought you were alone, you decided to try and remove your underwear from the night before. 

You struggled a little, but in the end, it was all off and thrown away. You walked around the dark room, trying to find your clothes. You managed to open up a small window to let some light into the room, and that’s when you saw him. 

You immediately froze as you took him in, a short whimper escaping you. Mando was laying with his back to you, helmet and armor off. You stared at his dark brown hair for a little too long before snapping out it. 

You knew he was awake, there was no way you made that much noise and he wasn’t. 

Instinctively, you covered your eyes, completely forgetting you were naked. 

“I didn’t see anything.” You quickly say, trying to act dumb. 

“What do you need?” Was all he replied. 

Your mind was racing, and it took you a while to remember what you needed. 

“Fuck,” you cursed under your breath. “Clothes…please.” 

It was too late now, there was nothing you could do except try to cover yourself up. 

With your eyes still closed, you heard him get up walk past you, back into your side of the room. 

You felt him put a blanket over your shoulders and you gratefully snatched it from him and draped it over your body. 

You heard him walk back to his side and pick up his helmet, securing it over his head. 

“You can look now.” 

You slowly opened your eyes and moved over to your bag. You rummaged through it, finding a fresh jumpsuit and some underwear to go with it. 

You could feel his stare on you, keenly observing every move you made, every breath you took. By this point, you just didn’t care anymore as you let the blanket drop and you put on your clothes. 

He was eerily silent until you put your jumpsuit on, having trouble with your bad shoulder. 

He immediately rushed over to you and helped you put your arm through. 

“You should go back to Omera to clean it out.” 

You nod, not really in the mood to fight him or make things even more awkward. 

“Thank you again for yesterday. I…I really appreciate it.” You said, going over to your side and putting on your boots. 

But when you came back out, he was gone. Had you pushed a nerve? 

You decided not to think about it as you finally emerged back into the bright day. As you walked through the village, the people smiled and waved at you. You couldn’t help but be grateful. 

Living here might actually work. 

“You’re alive.” You heard Cara say behind you. You stopped, letting her catch up to you. 

“Do I really look that bad?”

“Nothing a few days rest can’t fix.”

You walked in silence for a moment. 

“Where are you headed?” 

“I don’t know…I was going to see if Omera could change my bandages and—”

Before you could react, Cara grabbed a hold of you and planted a kiss on your mouth. 

It took you a second to understand what was going on, but once you did, you relaxed into her and kissed her back. 

She was overwhelming, in the best possible way. You wanted it to last forever, but she eventually she pulled away. 

You were stunned into silence, your expression probably too much on the shocked side. 

“I’m so sorry—” She started to say but you cut her off with a short kiss. 

You stared at each other for a moment, just trying your best to soak up the moment. 

“Do you wanna go for a walk?” She asked, tentatively. 

You nodded, grabbing her hand as she led you out of the village and back out into the forest. 

You walked around the forest for a while, looking for a place to hide out. Cara kept stealing kisses from you and holding you tightly, which after the morning you just had, finally made you feel like you knew where you stood with at least one person. 

You continued forward; toward the clearing you’d scouted yesterday. That’s when you heard it, the distinct beeping of a tracking fob. 

Your reflexes were already on as you rushed into the clearing and kicked a rifle out of the hands of a bounty hunter. 

The hunter reacted immediately, getting up from his position and pointing his blaster at you, but before he could shoot, Cara shot him from behind. 

“We have to talk about your compulsion to run towards danger.” 

You rolled your eyes and got down on the ground, trying to see where the bounty hunter was pointing. 

When you saw him, your heart sank. Dead center, the child sat with all his other friends, as content as can be. 

“What happened?” You heard the Mandalorian say as he ran up the hill towards you. 

“She’s fine.” Cara said, before he could freak out. 

He kneeled down in front of you as you turned to face him. 

“We have to leave.”


	9. Don't Trust Him (Part One)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After leaving Sorgan, you find yourselves in Tatooine, where the Mandalorian hunts a bounty while you try desperately to sell your own ship and keep the child safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Years!

Saying goodbye to Cara was the hardest. You had all decided soon after that leaving the village was the best choice you could make. Even if you could somehow make it work, you would still be bringing evil to their doorstep. 

Mando kept you busy for the rest of the day helping him pack everything right up again. Which sadly left you no time to talk to Cara about what had gone down. 

The next time you saw her, you were saying goodbye. You were thanking Winta for taking care of the child while Mando spoke with Omera. 

Cara walked over to you and you asked Winta to place the child in the speeder cart.

“Is he sure you don’t need an escort?” She asked, not really knowing how to start. 

“He has me,” you laughed, a little hurt. “But you could always come along.”

Cara shook her head, a smile escaping her. “I don’t think that would be wise.”

“I mean…we are wanted by a lot of people; we could use someone with your…talents?” 

You looked at her suggestively and laughed. When Mando heard you, he turned to look your way immediately, promptly ending his conversation with Omera. 

Cara shot you a bright smile which went away the second Mando arrived by your side. 

“Until we see each other again.” She simply stated to both of you. 

She shook hands with Mando and then turned to you, hand stretched out. You slapped it away and threw yourself over her, which wasn’t easy. 

You hugged her tightly. “Take care of yourself.” You whispered, giving her a kiss on the cheek and moving away before she could even register it. 

You climbed on the speeder, followed by Mando and before you knew it, you were on your way back to the Razor Crest. 

You had said nothing on the way over. You played with the child while Mando…slept? You really weren’t sure. 

When you arrived back at the ship, the Mandalorian asked about your own. You’d been thinking about that since you’d arrived, knowing fully well you were going to have to sell it at some point. 

You decided you would take different ships to the next planet and you’d see if you could sell it for a higher amount wherever you landed next. 

You followed Mando as he left the atmosphere and entered hyper speed. You waited patiently until he exited for you to follow to his location, but before you could react, your comlink screeched on. 

“They found me.” You heard Mando say. You could hear the distinct panic in his voice as he did and faintly hear the ruckus of blasters being fired in space. 

“On my way.”

You immediately jumped into hyper speed, and when you arrived, you could see him flying around in circles, trying his best to avoid the enemy fire. 

You quickly flew behind the bounty hunter’s ship and engaged your cannons. You aimed and shot, destroying the ship coming after them. 

“My ship is damaged. We’re going to land in that planet up ahead.”

“Copy.” You both moved into the planet. 

You landed outside a repair facility while the Mandalorian landed inside the hanger. 

You quickly got out of your ship and rushed over to see if they were okay. 

You saw Mando exit his ship as he normally did, but he then shot a pit droid that was about to start fixing his ship, narrowly missing it. 

“Mando!” You yelled at him, confused and a little embarrassed. “What the fuck?”

“Hey!” You heard someone yell from inside the facility. “You damage one of my droids, you pay for it!”

From inside the facility, a woman with curly hair stepped out, ready to fight the Mandalorian. You turned to face her, apologetic. 

“Just keep them away from my ship.” Mando said, threateningly. 

“Yeah? You think that’s a good idea?” She responded, fearless. “Let’s look at your ship.”

You watched in awe as she walked around the ship, banging and assessing the damage. 

“Ugh, look at that. You’ve got a lot of carbon scoring building up on top.”

Mando looked at you, as amused as can be and shot you a cold stare. 

“What? She’s right. This ship is garbage.” You responded.

“Like yours is any better.”

You roll your eyes, hitting him softly on his chest. 

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were in a shootout.”

She continued to inspect the Razor Crest as you tried your hardest not to laugh. 

“Look at this, this is a mess! How did you even land?” 

You couldn’t hold it in any longer, you let out an amused giggle and moved away before he could fight you. 

“That’s gonna set you back.” 

“I’ve got five hundred imperial credits.”

“That’s all you got?” She turned to her droids. “Well, what do you guys think?”

The droids all shake their heads. 

“Well, it should at least cover the hanger.” She replied. 

“What if we throw in my shitty ship as payment?” You chimed in. 

“I have no use for a shitty ship.” She laughs. You can’t help but laugh too. 

“We’ll get you your money.” Mando said. 

“Hmm. I’ve heard that before.” She had every right to be skeptical. 

“Just remember—”

“No droids. I heard you. You don’t have to say it twice.”

Mando turned to you. “Let’s go.” 

You stood up and followed him, confused. 

“What about the child?”

“He’s sleeping. He’ll be fine.”

You nod, leaving the hanger and going out into the sandy streets of a new town. 

You walk towards the cantina, ready to hustle some travelers to give you more for your ship than it was worth, when you see them. Impaled on spikes, the heads of half a dozen stormtroopers are displayed out in front of the cantina. 

You stopped in your tracks and stared at them for a second too long. 

“Are you coming?” You heard Mando say. 

You quickly nodded, moving away from the gruesome image. 

You entered the almost desolate cantina and went your separate ways. You started asking everyone if they were in the market to get a new ship and within seconds you already had a bidding war on your hands. 

Meanwhile, the Mandalorian approached the barkeeping droids to ask for work. 

One of the men you were speaking to seemed very interested, so you arranged a meeting later that night at the hanger to check out the ship and you’d go from there. 

When you turned back to Mando, you saw him arguing with the droid. 

“…that does not improve your situation, at least by my calculation.” The droid said. 

“Think again, tin can.” Someone responded. He sat front and center in the cantina, as if he didn’t care who saw him. 

You immediately got a gut feeling that the man was trouble and stepped up to Mando to warn him. 

“If you’re looking for work, take a seat, my friend.”

But before you could stop him, Mando sat down across from him. You tried to remain calm as you walked over after him and leaned against the wall behind him. 

“The name’s Toro, Toro Calican,” he said. “A pleasure to meet such a…beautiful soul such as—”

He was looking directly at you when he said it. Mando quickly cleared his throat, redirecting Toro’s attention back to him. 

Toro sat upright and pulled out a bounty puck from his tool belt. 

An image of Fennec Shand appears. Your mind immediately starts racing. 

“As I was saying, I picked up this Bounty Puck before I left the Mid Rim.”

“Fennec Shand…” You muttered. 

“Yeah, an assassin. You know her?”

You quickly shake your head, but deep down you knew you were lying. You’d seen her around a lot when you were younger. 

“Heard she’s been on the run ever since the New Republic put all of her employers on lockdown.”

Mando looked back at you for a second, but you barely registered it as you tried to keep the flashing memories back. 

“I followed this tracking fob here,” Toro continued. “Now the positional data suggests she’s headed out beyond the Dune Sea. Should be an easy job—”

A terrified chuckle escaped you. 

Mando turned back to you, concerned, but not angry. 

“Go back to the hanger.” Mando said, calmly. 

You looked at him and then back at Toro, and without saying another word, you left. 

“What is wrong with her?” You heard Toro ask, a hint of malice in his voice. 

“That’s none of your concern.” Mando quickly responded, a hint of anger in his voice. 

You made it back to the hanger quickly, your body wanting to throw up, but your mind was fully aware that there was nothing to throw up. 

You fell back against a wall once you were back inside, trying to calm your breathing. 

“Woah, woah, are you okay?” You heard the woman from before say next to you. 

You shook your head, trying to focus on one thing in front of you to ground your head. You saw she was holding the child, which was the least of your problems now. 

“It’s okay, just breathe. In and out.” You followed her calming voice as you stared into the round eyes of the child. 

It reached out for you and once your breathing was down, you picked him up from her arms and held him tight in yours. 

“I found him coming out of his ship, it nearly gave me a heart attack.”

You laughed softly, taking one last breath to calm you down. 

“My name is Peli, just in case you need anything.”

You smile at her brightly, telling her your name. 

“I was just about to give him some dinner if you’d like.”

You nod, letting her guide you inside. 

A while later, Mando stormed back into the hanger. He rushed into the Crest for supplies and freaked out when he didn’t find the child. 

You came out to meet him, child in hand. “I got him. He’s fine.”

He calmed down, nodding and then moving to leave again.

“You took the job.” He stopped dead in his tracks. 

“I did.” Before you could react, he left the hanger. You followed after him, annoyed out of your mind. 

“You don’t need to do this, someone is interested in my ship, we can—” You said after him. 

As you exited, you noticed Toro was there, two old and dusty speeders ready for their journey. 

You grabbed Mando’s arm and stopped him, turning your back to Toro. “Don’t trust him, and especially don’t trust her.”

He turned back to you, surprised by the care in your words.

“Just don’t get killed.” You quickly said, trying to sound disinterested once more. 

And with that, he got on the speeder and rode away. Toro winked at you before following the Mandalorian. 

You rolled your eyes dramatically and walked back inside. 

As you did, you heard your name being called. Peli motioned you over and you noticed the man from the cantina waiting for you. 

You handed the child to Peli and walked him out towards your ship. You talked for a while, he seemed interested…but there was a voice at the back of your head telling you there was something wrong. 

It wasn’t until you heard Peli yell that it all finally clicked. You turned back to the man, who now held a blaster on you. 

“Don’t even think about it.” He tried to warn you, but you were already on the move. 

You grabbed hold of his wrist and pushed it up, the blaster going off. While he was distracted, you ran your feet across the back of his, causing him to lose balance and fall to the ground. 

You took out your own blaster and shot him in the face. 

Losing no more time, you made it into the hanger and shot the door controls so that the bounty hunters inside couldn’t get out. 

The sun was setting in the horizon as you expertly sneaked around the hanger, trying to find the remaining hunters. 

There were two of them walking the perimeter. You waited until they were the furthest away from each other to strike. 

You stepped beside the first one, startling him and grabbing hold of his hand that was holding his blaster. You sent it back, hitting him in the face and incapacitating him. 

You then hid again, waiting for the other one to find the body. When that one did, you slid out of your hiding place, you jumped on him, grabbed hold of his head with your thighs and using your body to roll him on the ground. 

You ended on top of him, punching him once for good measure. 

You finally made it to Peli’s office. You entered slowly, blaster in the air. 

Their leader held Peli at blaster-point, the child in his arms. 

“I’ll shoot her, I swear.”

You nodded in understanding, pointing your blaster up to the sky while you slowly reached back for your lightsaber with your other hand. 

“You’re going to let me leave, or else this thing gets it.”

“It’s going to take me a moment to fix the door, do you think you can wait?” You said, expecting a reaction from Peli. 

“You broke my door!?” Peli yelled, momentarily distracting the bounty hunter. 

“Baby, food!”

The child somehow understood you and bit down on the hunter’s hand, hard. 

In a crazy moment, you turn on the knife side of your lightsaber and throw it at the hunter’s head. The hunter dropped dead, the child falling from his hands and Peli dives for him before he can hit the ground. 

She let out a sigh of relief as you retrieved your saber. 

“You broke my door?” She asked. 

You couldn’t help but laugh.


	10. Don't Trust Him (Part Two)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You find out the reason why you were right and your dreams start to affect your reality.

You spent the next day fixing Peli’s door. It was an easy job, which only took you about an hour. 

You’d gone back out into town to see if you could actually sell your ship and ended up finding a buyer that gave you enough credits to pay Peli and get yourself some supplies. 

With the money, you bought some new clothes and the remaining pieces for the door that you were missing. 

You came back a little later than expected, as night was taking over. You dropped your things inside the Crest and went to find the child to feed it, when you saw someone learning over his crib.

You immediately took out your blaster and pointed it at him. 

“It’s okay. It’s only me.” Toro stood up and turned to face you. “See? You’re not in any danger.”

You kept your blaster trained on him as he picked up the child, who was now fussing over being held by someone he didn’t know. 

“Where is Mando?” You asked, not overly excited about getting into another fight. 

“This is what all the fuss has been about? This…thing?”

“Put him down.”

Toro looked at you for a moment, processing your words. He threw you a devilish smile.

“With pleasure.” 

He let go of the child and you launched yourself to catch him. You managed to grab him before he hit the ground, but just as you did, Toro kicked you in the face. 

Your nose exploded in pain as you rolled away from him, holding the baby close to you and away from him. 

“Stand up.” You heard him say, even though everything sounded out of reach. “I said, get up!”

He had to drag you to your feet as your nose started to bleed. He snatched the child from your arms and held his blaster to your head.

You heard movement outside the ship, you perked up, but he noticed too. 

“Took you long enough, Mando.” 

Toro slowly forced you forward and as the Mandalorian came into view, you couldn’t help but feel a little guilty that this was happening. It was your one job to look after the child, and yet, here you both were. 

“Looks like I’m calling the shots now. Huh, partner?”

His eyes met yours and you tried your best to stay calm, for his sake more than yours. You could tell he was angry and there was no way he was going to let Toro walk out of here alive. 

“Drop your blasters and raise ’em.” 

Mando slowly lowered his blaster and dropped it on the sand in front of him. He held his hands up and placed them against the back of his helmet. 

“Cuff him.” He told you, handing you a pair of handcuffs. 

But before you moved, you noticed Mando was holding a flash grenade. Mando nodded at you. You understood and closed your eyes as he let the grenade go off. 

The light turned everything white for a moment, and you managed to grab hold of the child and throw yourself on the ground as Mando picked up his blaster and shot Toro. 

Toro fell over the ramp and you finally let yourself fall back on your back, exhausted. The baby, happy in your arms, wiggled and tried to say something to you, but you were far too gone to register anything. 

Mando rushed over to you and dropped to his knees. He made you sit up as he assessed the damage. 

“Why is it that I’m always the one getting hurt?” You slurred. “I’d love to see you get some battle scars.”

“You’ll be fine.”

“But my pretty face, it hurts.”

Mando took a deep breath, turning you around to sit against his chest so that you didn’t have to overexert yourself. 

“I should’ve listened to you.” He said, trying to wipe away the blood from your face. 

“You should always listen to me.” You managed. “But since you won’t, at least take your comlink next time so you can let me know a murdering dumbass is on his way to kill us.”

“I can do that.”

“Good.” 

And with that you closed your eyes and everything went black. 

You were back in the imperial base, but this time, you were training outside in a courtyard. 

In front of you, an older instructor taught you how to take an opponent down the way you had taken down those bounty hunters. 

You watched terrified as the instructor brought down a volunteer stormtrooper. It was quick and powerful. Something deep inside you reveled in the feeling. You wanted to learn how to do that. 

You felt a fire in your stomach, an evil force drawing you forward and before you knew it, you were fighting another girl from your group. 

She was smaller and didn’t look like she was doing too well. You tried to refuse, object, but that was not what had happened. 

You pounced, sending her down on the ground easily and quickly holding her in a death grip. 

The girl struggled against you, having trouble breathing. Your vision had blurred into anger, and all you could see was power and death. 

The instructor and stormtroopers pulled you off the girl, having to subdue you, but you fought back. You kicked and punched, managing to break free enough to put the stormtrooper into a chokehold. 

You felt overwhelmed with anger and you tried your hardest to get out of the mental prison you’d been put in. You fought back against yourself, starting to feel like you were drowning. 

And then, you felt your body being flipped over and land on a soft surface. 

“Wake up!” You heard Mando’s voice echo through your mind. He kept calling your name, but there was still some resistance. 

You felt your thrash, which made the dream tremble as you tried to take out the other two stormtroopers. The instructor had taken a step back, watching in awe at the whole ordeal. 

In a moment of blinding anger, you didn’t notice as a stormtrooper grabbed a hold of you and started to choke you. You tried to get out of their grasp, but you were losing consciousness quickly. 

And suddenly, like a cold shower, you felt someone’s lips on yours, breathing air into. Your body. 

The sensation immediately brought you back to reality with a bang. You thrashed from under Mando’s grasp and fell face first onto the floor. 

You breathed heavily, making sure you could touch the coolness of the floor to try and ground yourself. 

The ringing in your ears had finally started to subside as you heard Mando come up behind you and sit down next to you, waiting patiently. 

Once you’d calmed down, you rolled over on your back. 

“Does this happen often?” He asked out of the blue. 

You took a moment to answer, hoping this was the olive branch you thought it was. 

“Not like this,” you struggle to sit up. “It’s been getting worse since you found the kid, as if he agitated something.” 

“His powers?”

You nodded. “I could do things like that when I was younger. I think it’s trying to call me back, to do my duty and do something evil to the child.” 

As soon as the words leave your mouth, you hoped they hadn’t. 

In the darkness of the room, you couldn’t really see much, but you could feel the air thicken. 

“I’m not going to hurt him, I won’t let myself get there, and I know you’ll stop me if I ever try to.” 

He was silent for a while after that. Part of you expected him to say he wouldn’t hurt you and the other expected the reassurance that he would drop you in seconds if you even tried. 

“I trust you.” Was all he said. 

“I trust you too.” You replied, taking a deep breath and slowly moving back to the bed. “What were you doing here, anyway?”

“You were screaming. It woke up the child.” He cleared his throat and got back up from the floor. 

You heard him put his helmet back on and open the door to exit his room. 

But before he could leave, you yelled after him. “You’re a good kisser, by the way.”

The comment took him by surprise, holding him back for a second before choosing to ignore you and engulf you back in darkness.


	11. Old Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mando decides to take a job without telling you...

He didn’t talk to you for days after that. 

You tried your hardest to get him to say something to you the first two days, but quickly came to the conclusion that maybe you had pushed him too far and dropped the whole thing. 

You spent time with the child and focused most of your energy into making yourself a new home aboard the Crest. 

While the ship looked pretty big, the space wasn’t set up in a way that you could really have your own space away from Mando. 

Eventually, you found a big enough closet in the lower deck below the cockpit and spent a full day emptying it out to make yourself a makeshift bed. But even that didn’t fit, so you ended up turning a blanket into a hammock and hanging it across the room. It wasn’t great, but it was all you could do for now. 

You were doing a lot better after the whole Toro fiasco, and all of your wounds were healing pretty nicely, which allowed you to move around a lot more and ultimately get into Mando’s personal space. 

It was clear by the fifth day that he was starting to get annoyed about having you onboard, but it wasn’t your fault he refused to even acknowledge you. 

It wasn’t until the sixth day, while you were asleep, that you felt the Crest land somewhere. 

The movement startled you awake, and you ran from the bottom of the ship to the cockpit to see what was going on. 

“Why are we landing?” You asked him, quickly realizing you were barely wearing any clothes. 

For a moment you didn’t expect him to answer you, but when he did, you wished he hadn’t. 

“I contacted an old friend. He needs people for a job.”

You stared at him for a moment, trying really hard not to yell at him immediately. “Can we trust this ‘friend’?”

He stayed quiet. 

“What’s the job?”

“The job is you stay hidden with the child. I don’t need them knowing about you or him.”

“This is ridiculous.”

“How do you suggest we explain this?”

He motioned between you and him. You immediately opened your mouth to answer, but before you could, he could see the glint of mischief in your eyes. 

“No.” He scolded you. “Take the child and stay hidden.”

You rolled your eyes at him as he walked past you towards the ladder to exit the ship. 

“Aren’t you missing something?” You quickly said, grabbing the comlink off the dashboard and turning it on without him knowing. 

You tossed him the comlink, giving him a cold stare. 

You kept low and watched him walk out of the Crest and meet up with a large man with a long beard. 

“Mando. Is that you under that bucket?” The bearded man said. 

“Ran.” Mando replied. They shook hands, which shocked you a little, knowing fully well Mando didn’t really do touching. 

“I didn’t really know if I would see you in these parts again. Good to see you.”

And then Ran put his arm around Mando’s shoulder. Who was this man? 

A chilling thought ran through your mind, was Mando embarrassed of his friends…or was he embarrassed of you?

You quickly shook the thought away, not knowing enough to form a solid conclusion yet. 

You watched them leave after that, so you ran back downstairs and back into your closet. You got dressed while listening to their conversation. 

“You know, to be honest, I was a little surprised when you reached out to me. You know, cause I…I hear things. Like maybe things between you and the Guild aren’t workin’ out.”

Holy shit, did everyone know?

“I’ll be fine.” Was all that Mando replied. 

“Okay. Well, you know the policy. No questions. And you, you’re welcome back here anytime.”

You finished putting on clothes, so you decided to go grab the child. You had moved most of his things into a small cabinet beside your room when you heard them start speaking again. 

“So, what’s the job?” Mando asked. 

“Yeah, one of our associates ran afoul of some competitors and got himself caught. So, I’m puttin’ together a crew to spring him. It’s a five person job, I got four. All I need is the ride, and you brought it.”

Oh no. 

“The ship wasn’t part of the deal.” Mando quickly tried to fight it, but it didn’t sound like a fight he could win. 

“Well, the Crest is the only reason I let you back in here.”

Mando, what did you do?

“What’s the look? Is that gratitude?”

You knew it wasn’t. 

Ran laughed. “Uh-huh, I think it is.”

Everything about this job sounded wrong, like Ran was spending too much effort in making his voice sound effortless and casual…like he was lying. 

You thought about picking up your com to warn him, but you knew that if you did, it would blow your cover completely. 

You paced around the Crest for a while, letting the child get as much fresh air as you could before having to stuff yourselves into a tiny closet for no idea how long. 

“Hey Mayfeld.” Ran called out, bringing your racing mind back to reality. 

“Yeah?” You heard someone else respond. 

“This is Mando, the guy I was telling you about. We used to do jobs way back when.” 

“This is the guy?”

“Yeah, we were all young, trying to make a name for ourselves. But running with a Mandalorian, that was…that brought us some reputation.” 

“Oh yeah, what’d he get out of it?” Mayfeld asked. His answer piqued your interest. 

“I asked him that one time. You remember what you said, Mando? Target practice.”

You were stunned into silence. Your heart started racing and your mind was running as far as it could go with this new information, tainting the image of him that you had been forming over the last couple of weeks.

But most importantly, you hated finding these things out through other people. 

“That was a long time ago.” Mando replied.

He didn’t deny it. Your stomach sank deeper as you tried to justify his behavior, like you had your own for the entirety of your life. You had done it to survive…but somehow this felt different, cold, like he had a choice in the matter, and it still didn’t change anything. 

You could hear them talking, but your mind was not paying any attention to it. Even when Mayfeld made a joke about the state of the Crest, you didn’t even crack a smile. 

You moved the child into his small cupboard and closed the door on him, not wanting him to see you like this. 

You were brought back out of your spiraling as Mayfeld gave Mando a rundown of the team. 

“Okay, the good looking fellow there with the horns, that’s Burg. This may surprise you, but he’s out muscle.”

You quickly sneaked back up to the cockpit to catch a glimpse of the crew. 

You saw Burg, a very large Devaronian. He stomped up to Mando and seized him up. 

“So, this is a Mandalorian. I thought they’d be bigger.” Burg joked. 

Laughter erupted all around. 

Mayfeld quickly moved on. “Droid’s name is Zero.”

He pointed at a droid that looked like a fly. You could tell Mando was pissed he had to deal with more droids. It definitely was a stupid thing you didn’t quite fully understand…because he didn’t deign himself to explain himself. 

“I thought you said you had four.” Mando replied, curious. 

“He does.” A striking Twi’lek woman said from behind him. Mando slowly turned around to face her, his entire body tense. “Hello Mando.”

“Xi’an.” Mando replied, a hint of resentment in his voice. 

Wait…did they know each other?

“Tell me why I shouldn’t cut you down where you stand?” Xi’an asked him. 

You asked yourself the exact same thing almost every day. 

She launched herself at Mando, knife in hand and he didn’t even flinch away. 

“Nice to see you too.” Mando said. 

They had definitely fucked. 

“I missed you.” She was all up in his personal space, which apparently freaked you out more than it did him. “This is shiny. You wear it well.”

“Do we need to leave the room or something?” Mayfeld interrupted. 

“Well, Xi’an’s been a little heartbroken since Mando left our group.” Ran interjected. 

“Aw, you gonna be okay, sweetheart?” In another life, maybe you and Mayfeld would’ve gotten along. 

“Oh, I’m all business now. Learned from the best.” She pointed at Mando. 

A lot of puzzle pieces were starting to make sense, as a fuller picture of Mando started to form in your mind. 

“Alright, lovebirds,” Ran settled everyone down. “Break it up till you get on the ship. Right now we don’t have much time.”

The group moved towards the ship and you barely had enough time to get down and into your closet before Zero entered the ship and made his way up to the cockpit. 

You quickly lowered the volume on your comlink and sat down on the floor to continue listening. 

“So, the package is being moved on a fortified transport ship,” Mayfeld started to explain. “Now, we got a limited window to board, find out friend, get him out of there before they make their jump.”

It all sounded pretty standard for a prison break. 

“This is a New Republic prison ship.” Mando demanded. “Your man wasn’t taken by a rival syndicate. He was arrested.”

You took a deep breath, wanting so badly to tell him ‘I told you so’. When you were out of this mess, you were going to yell at him to stop getting you into more messes. 

You couldn’t be on the New Republic radar; they would definitely imprison you on sight…or worse.

“So what?” Mayfeld challenged.

“A job is a job.” Ran reminded Mando. 

“That’s a max security transport and I’m not looking for that kind of heat.”

“Well, neither are we. So just don’t mess up.”

“The good news for you is the ship is manned by droids. Still hate the machines, Mando?” Xi’an teased. 

You heard the droid exit the Crest as she said that. “Despite recent modifications, the ship is still quite a mess. The power lines are leaking, the navigation is intermittent, the hyperdrive is only operating at 67.3% efficiency. We have much better ships, why are we using this one?”

“Because the Crest is off the old Imperial and New Republic grid. It’s a ghost.” Ran quickly explained. 

“Yeah, and we need a ship that can get close enough to jam New Republic code.” Mayfeld continued on. He detailed their plan of attack, but you weren’t really paying much attention anymore. You wanted to be out there, doing what you were best at, but you also understood not wanting to explain who you were and why you were here. 

“It’s not possible, even for the Crest.” Mando beat you to it. 

“That’s why he’s flying.” You assumed Ran was pointing to the droid. It was the only way to do what they had planned out with such precision. “Mando, I know you’re a good pilot, but we need you on the trigger, not behind the wheel. 

You heard the crew start to get onboard. You turned your comlink off, afraid they might hear their own voices and figure out what was going on. 

You heard Mando walk onboard and close the gate behind him. And like that, you were off.


	12. New Enemies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ...which puts you both in danger as the they double cross him and you let yourself go back to your old ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry and you're welcome ;)

You did your best to stay as quiet as humanly possible as the crew paced around in the room besides yours. 

“Will you sit down?” You heard Xi’an scold someone. 

Her words were followed by someone, who you assumed was Burg, punching the ceiling. 

You felt the ship jump into hyperspace, as you grabbed onto anything to stay in your place and not make any noise. 

You settled down and regained control of your breathing as you heard Burg mess around with a control panel. 

You held your breath, completely forgetting they could open any door with a press of a button. This ship really was trash. 

Fortunately for you, neither your door nor the child’s opened. 

You heard Mando come down from the cockpit and immediately close what had been opened. 

A small scuffle ensued between him and Burg, but it was quickly squashed by Mayfeld as he tried to reason with them. 

“Let’s just do this job. We get in, we get out, and you don’t have to see our faces anymore.” 

“Someone tell me why we even need a Mandalorian,” Burg continued to fan the flame. 

“Well, apparently they’re the greatest warriors in the galaxy. So they say.” Mayfeld added. 

It was clear none of them actually considered Mando a valuable asset, and so the flames continued to be fanned. 

“Then why are they all dead?” The crew laughed. 

“Well, you flew with him Xi’an. Is he as good as they say?” Mayfeld continued. 

“Ask him about the job on Alzoc III.” Was all she answered. 

“I did what I had to.” Mando was quick to defend himself. 

“But you liked it. See, I know who you really are.” Her words dripped with poison.

“He never takes off the helmet?” 

“This is the Way.” Xi’an mocked. 

“Huh, I wonder what you look like under there.” You could feel the air become thicker as Mayfeld continued on. “Maybe he’s a Gungan. Is that why yousa don’t wanna show your face?”

More laughter erupted from the crew. 

“You ever see his face?” You assumed Mayfeld was talking to Xi’an. 

“A lady never tells.” You couldn’t imagine Mando showing his face to anyone. Even the times you’d “seen him” without his helmet, you never really got to see his face. 

“Aw come on Mando, we all gotta trust each other here. You gotta show us something. Come on, just lift the helmet up.” You really didn’t like where this was going. “Come one, let us all see your eyes.”

“I’ll do it.” Burg said. 

You heard them fight, Mando sending Burg back against the wall, which echoed loudly in your small closet. 

You didn’t even notice he had accidentally hit the control panel to open the cupboard where you’d put the kid until everyone went silent. 

“Woah, what is that?” You heard Mayfeld say, curious. “You get lonely up here, buddy? Huh?”

Your heart was racing, and your ears were ringing as you slowly opened your door enough to see what was going on. You could see everything from across the room.

“Wait a minute, did you two make that?” Mayfeld really didn’t know when to quit. “What is it, like a pet or something?”

“Yeah, something like that.” You could hear the hint of annoyance in his voice. You should’ve hidden the child with you, but you preferred the odds of only one of you getting discovered at a time. You were honestly hoping you would be the one discovered. 

“Didn’t take you for the type.” Xi’an said. “Maybe that code of yours has made you soft.”

You thought back on the person you knew, the person who was incredibly stupid, but also caring and gentle. Maybe he had changed. 

“Me, I was never really into pets. Yeah, I didn’t have the temperament, the patience, you know? I mean, I tried, but it never worked out.” You watched as Mayfeld picked up the child. “But I’m thinking, maybe I’ll try again, with this little fella.”

You silently took out your blaster and aimed it at Mayfeld. Thankfully, by that point, Burg had stepped away from your line of sight and moved to the other end of the room. 

You were about to pull the trigger when you heard the droid announce you were dropping out of hyperspace. 

The movement sent everyone flying everywhere, even you. You tried your best not to yell, but thankfully, since everyone else was hitting against things, you didn’t need to worry about being loud. 

When you finally descended, you saw Mando pick up the child and place him back in his cubby and closed the door. 

For a second when he moved back, you made eye contact and you could tell he wasn’t happy, but he wasn’t angry either. 

He quickly rejoined the group, and as he opened the hatch into the prison, you could tell something was wrong. They were going to double cross him; you just knew it. 

The hatch opened and Mayfeld went in first, followed by Xi’an, Burg and finally Mando. 

You waited for a good while before getting out of the closet. 

You turned your comlink back on and heard Mayfeld saying they were going to go to the control room first. 

You knew you should stay on the ship with the kid, but you gut hadn’t been wrong yet, so wasting no more time, you went down the hatch after them. 

The prison transport was pristine, creepily white, even for the New Republic.

You could see them turn the corner as you went down, so you continued to follow them from a distance, blaster ready. 

You followed them down a corridor lined with prisons, all occupied. It wasn’t until they made their final turn into the control center that they were found by four droids. 

They tried to shoot their way out of there, but the droids were not letting up. You wanted to help them, but you knew it wasn’t your time yet. And so, you watched in awe as Mando came up from behind them and attacked. 

He moved like he’d been doing this since he was a child, as if he had learned to fight before he had even learned to walk. 

The slid through the floor and toppled a droid, smoothly getting up, kicking the next in the abdomen and shooting the third; all in one fluid motion. The final one shot him, but it bounced off his armor. He tried to finish it off with another shot, but the droid managed to evade it and push Mando into a corner. They fought hand to hand for a moment before Mando reached into its core and ripped out something, throwing it at another droid that had stood back up. 

The others were about to join the fight and help him, when Mayfeld stopped them. You truly hated that guy. 

Mando fell to the ground but quickly shot his grappling hook on the back of one of the remaining droids. He pulled on the cord, forcing the droid to bump into another one, and bringing them both down.

The crew watched in awe and terror as he continued to destroy the droids. For the final two, he turned on his flame thrower as a distraction while grappling one of them to the floor and hitting the other, bringing it down to its knees to finally shoot it through the head. 

You had to admit, it was incredibly sexy to watch him fight. But even after all of that, you still thought you could take him. 

The crew took a moment to digest what they had just witnessed before moving on to the control room. Mando stood there for a moment, looking down at his. You wanted more than anything to ask him about what made him hate droids this much, but before you could even finish your thought, he was gone. 

You continued to follow them until they arrived at the control center. The heavy door opened to reveal a lonely New Republic soldier, blaster pointed right at them. You watched from afar as the soldier told them to put their blasters down. 

The crew quickly round him, mocking him. 

“There were only supposed to be droids in this ship.” You heard Mando say. He was pissed. You took a deep breath, hoping Mando would not let them kill a poor man in cold blood. 

“Hang on, hang on. Let’s see here…” Mayfeld said, getting into the system and finding the cell where their friend was. When he turned around, the soldier had his blaster trained on him, a distress beacon on the other hand. 

That made Mayfeld take shit seriously. “Woah, woah, woah, put that down.” 

“Easy, nobody has to get hurt here.” Mando tried to defuse the situation. “Just calm down.” 

“What is that?” Burg finally asked a good question. 

“It’s a distress beacon.” Mando replied, keeping his voice as calm as possible. 

“He presses that things and we’re all done. A New Republic team will hone in on that signal and blow us all to hell. Put it down!”

So much for stealth, you thought to yourself. 

“Are you serious?” Xi’an scolded. “You didn’t think that we needed to know that tiny little detail?”

“I didn’t think we’d get to this point.” 

“Yet here we are.”

“Are you questioning my managerial style, Xi’an?”

“No, sir.”

This mission just kept getting more and more unbearable the more you watched on. 

“Hey, listen to me,” Mando tried to redirect the soldier’s attention back to him. He holstered his blaster and urged the rest to do the same. “Put it down.”

The rest started to do it, not really wanting to. 

“What’s your name?” Mando asked the man. 

“It’s…it’s Davan.” The soldier stammered. 

“Davan, we’re not here for you, we’re here for a prisoner. If you let us go about our job, you can walk away with your life.” You let out a breath of relief as he tried to do the right thing. That was the Mando you knew. 

“No, he won’t.” And of course, Mayfeld had to get in the way. He unholstered his blasters and pointed them at Mando and the soldier. 

“You realize what you’re gonna bring down on us?” Mando was close to losing it. 

“You think I care about that?” 

“We’re not killing anyone.” Mando stood his ground. 

“Get that blaster out of my face, Mando.”

And just before things could escalate any further, Xi’an threw her knife at the soldier. 

The man fell to the ground, activating the beacon in the process. 

“Would you both just shut up?” For once, you agreed with Xi’an on something. 

“Thanks Twi.” Mayfeld moved on. “I had it under control.”

“Yeah, looked like it.” Xi’an kneeled over the body and retrieved her knife. 

“Zero to Mayfeld, I’ve detected another life down the hall from you.” Zero’s voice broke the tension. 

You cursed under your breath and ran away before they could come find you. 

“Forget about that,” you heard Mayfeld say. “Was that thing blinking before?” 

“I’ve detected a New Republic distress signal homing in on your location. You have approximately twenty minutes.” You heard as you rounded the corner…right into a handful of droids. 

Fuck. 

Your hand reached back to your lightsaber, but you fought the urge to use it. Instead opting for your blaster. 

You shot two droids before having to dive out of the way and into cover. You were going to be quickly overrun, but you still tried to push back the thought of using the one weapon you swore not to touch again. 

But then, Mando’s voice filled your head. The child needs for one of us to survive. 

You took a deep breath and stepped out of your hiding place and unleashed your lightsaber. The red light reflected against the pristine white walls and for a second, you saw the droids stop in their tracks. 

You expertly swung your saber around and deflected the blaster fire. You moved in between the four droids and slashed them all to pieces in seconds. They sliced like butter, and you reveled in the feeling of power you had once thirsted over, the anger slowly creeping back over you. 

You took a moment to calm down. You turned off your saber, happily existing in the silence. But then it happened. 

You heard the prison door open and Mando and the prisoner speaking. And then, you hard Mando get pushed into the cell. The sound of blaster fire echoed around the cell and then the deafening sound of the latch closing. 

You sprang into action and ran towards the cell number you remembered Mayfeld saying. 

You watched as a lone droid walked down the hall. You ran towards it, using the knife side of your lightsaber to stab it in the back and cut its arm off. They had destroyed the outer control panel, so you threw the arm into the cell through the openings on the door. 

“We have to talk about you being too prideful to ask for help.” You scolded Mando. 

The cell door opened, and he stepped out, moving to stand really close in front of you. 

“What for? You’re always here to save me.” 

You rolled your eyes at him, anger about to boil over. 

“We don’t have much time.” He reminded you, finally moving away and making way to the control room. 

You followed him, knowing this was not the time to argue. You’d have plenty of time to do that later. 

You made it into the control room and Mando immediately got to work jamming their frequencies and closing them off from the Crest. 

The transport went on full lockdown, red flashing lights turned on and the alarm went off. 

You watched as they ran down a hall and got separated by a door closing between them. 

“I’ve got Xi’an and Burg.” You announced, not letting him fight you on it, you left the room. 

You moved around the ship stealthily. You saw them split up, and you decided to take Burg first. 

You moved up from behind him and threw yourself on his back, wrapping your arm around his throat. 

You tried to choke him with all your strength, but it obviously wasn’t enough. 

Burg easily grabbed a hold of you and threw you off him like you were nothing. 

You hit the ground with a bang and rolled away before managing to steady yourself again. 

You stood up and waited for him to charge at you, your mind formulating a plan. 

You taunted him, encouraging him forward. And when he did, you quickly took out your blaster and shot the control panel under a door. 

The door came crashing down on him, and for a second you thought he was down for good. But then he got off his feet and lifted the door. 

Panic washed over your face, but as soon as it did, a second door closed across him, hitting him hard on the head and sending him down swiftly. 

You looked around the room and found a camera pointed directly at you. You smiled at it and took out your comlink. 

“Thank you.” You told Mando before quickly moving on. 

You rounded a corner, expecting it to be empty, but this time, Xi’an found you. 

“Hello little morsel,” she said, baring her fangs at you. “Where did you come from?”

You simply smiled back at her, ready for a good fight. 

“Are you with the Republic?” She readied her knives as you circled each other. Then realization hits her. “No, you can’t be. You’re with him?” 

“Do you really care that much?” You asked her, trying to remain as unbothered as you could. 

She laughed, amused by the whole ordeal. 

“Are you two…?” She asked, suggestively, wiggling her knife at you. 

“Are you jealous?” You immediately fired back.

The words took her by surprise, and it took her a second to regain her tough exterior. 

“Did it break your heart when he left you, all alone, with no explanation?” You knew this wasn’t going to get you anywhere, but it felt good. 

That clearly hit a nerve, because the next thing you knew, she charged at you and brought down her knives to your throat. 

You dodged, throwing yourself back as far as you could go and then grabbing hold of her wrists to pull yourself back up. 

You turned your body, twisting her arms and using the momentum to throw her over your head. 

She rolled expertly and immediately got up and went back at you, throwing knives at you which you dodged easily. 

You grabbed hold of one of her arms and twisted it away from you. She yelled in pain but recovered quick enough to slash your abdomen with her other knife. 

You cursed under your breath, but kicked her other hand, sending her knife flying to the other end of the hall. 

But she was good. Better than you’d anticipated, so before you could take her down, she brought her knee up and slammed it on your stomach. 

You stumbled backwards, out of breath. 

She shook her arm, knife ready to finish you. You made her believe that you were all spent, so in a moment of wanting to show off, she threw her knife at you and you easily dodged it. 

She was surprised, which helped you charge at her. You kicked her in the stomach, sending her back and down on her knees. Then you hooked the back of your leg around her neck and rolled forward, sending her down with you, hitting her head on the way and going out cold. 

You knew Mando had seen all that, and you hoped that he finally realized that you were capable of much more than he gave you credit for. 

You decided to go back to the Crest, fully well knowing that he could deal with the remaining crew members. 

You climbed up the ladder, a sharp pain finally registering in your brain. You took your hand off your wound to assess the damage, and you hard came back drenched in blood. 

You shook off the pain and focused on getting back on the ship before you could bleed out. But once you made it back inside, you noticed the fucking droid pointing a blaster at the child. 

You noticed the child trying to use the force to stop it, but he wasn’t strong enough. In one final moment, you used the remaining strength you had and stood up, blaster pointed at the droid. You shot it down and then immediately fell back down on the floor. 

You threw your blaster aside and dragged yourself up to a sitting position. Everything hurt and you could swear you could see stars. Had she used poison? 

Your vision began to blur, but out of the corner of your eye, you could see the child waddling towards you. 

“No, baby…no.” You tried to push him away, but he persisted, and you were too spent to keep fighting it. 

He stood in front of your face and placed his tiny hands over your cheeks. You knew what he was doing, and it terrified you. But you let it happen. 

You could feel his energy rushing over you and closing your cut. Once you felt it was healed enough, you pushed him away, afraid he would overexert himself. 

“That’s good. Thank you, baby.” You struggled to stand up, but at least this time you didn’t fall over. 

You held him tight and moved up into the cockpit to get the ship ready to go. 

You placed the child on his seat and strapped him in, before moving to the pilot seat and starting to disengage from the hanger. 

You took out your comlink. “Ready to leave when you are.”

You heard the hatch close below and Mando closing the floor up. 

“Ready.” 

You took off, engaging the autopilot to take you back to hanger. The Crest entered hyperspace and you finally allowed yourself to crumble down on your seat. 

You took off your shirt to assess the damage and noticed your wound had opened up again from your movements. 

You cursed under your breath as you heard Mando enter the cockpit. As soon as you saw him, alive and well, the anger came back. 

“You motherfucker!” You yelled at him. 

“I had it under control.” He simply stated. 

“Sure you did.” You tried to stand up, but you were lightheaded again. Mando readied himself to catch you, but instead you grabbed hold of his wrist and twisted it backwards behind his back. “I am tired of you making choices that get us both into trouble, Mando.”

For a second he let you keep control of him. “I can’t keep doing this. Staying out of danger isn’t something that’s in my blood and if I am supposed to follow you in, I would love to know what the fuck I’m getting myself into!”

That was enough for him. He threw his body back and hit you hard, forcing you to release him. Before you could fight back, he swept his feet across yours, sending you to the ground with a bang. 

You tried to get up, but the pain on your abdomen was too much. 

He knelt down over you and took out his electric cauterizer and turned it on. 

“Stay still.” He said, but you were not going to go down without a fight. 

In one swift motion, you hooked your legs around his waist and one of his legs and used the little force you had to roll him over to the floor. You sat on top of him, pinning him down to the floor and grabbing his shirt to keep him down. 

“Are we fucking clear!?” You yell at him one last time. As soon as you do, you finally come to the realization of what you had done. You let go of his clothes and sit back, breathing heavily. 

“Fuck, I’m sorry.” You say, calmly. You try to get up, but Mando holds you down. 

You take a steadying breath as he sat up and gently placed a hand on your cheek. 

“I understand.” Was all he said before the ship jumped out of hyperspace. The sudden movement caused you to lose your balance, and Mando quickly used the distraction to flip you over on your back and pin you down to the floor. 

You were too distracted by his hips against yours to even register the pain as he cauterized the wound. 

He stayed there for a moment too long, watching you under him. You couldn’t help but pant, and a part of you couldn’t stop thinking about what was going through his mind. 

But as soon as you thought it, he stood up and scooped you from the ground and into the other passenger seat. 

He landed the Crest in the hanger and was about to leave the cockpit when you grabbed his hand to stop him. 

“Wait,” you said. You looked at each other for a moment while you tried to tell him how you felt, but you weren’t able. “Thank you.”

He nodded and left the room. After that, you don’t remember blacking out, but the next thing you knew, Mando was back in the pilot seat. He didn’t know you were asleep, but you saw him unscrew the handle of one of his controls and hand the ball over to the child, who cooed happily. You couldn’t help but smile before darkness took you once again.


	13. Crossing the Line

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You catch Mando doing something you weren't supposed to catch him doing, and instead of pretending like you didn't, you finally take a step toward something you've wanted for a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You're welcome x

You don’t remember what you dreamed that night. All you remember was a heavy weight over your chest that took your breath away. 

You woke up with a start, the weight being too much to bear. You were back in Mando’s room but this time you were alone. 

You tried to roll over and go back to sleep, but you couldn’t quiet your mind. You gave up after a while and decided to go find Mando hoping he could keep you busy. 

You were about to open the door to the cockpit when you heard him. He let out a low groan, and the more you listened, the clearer the sounds of him jerking off became. 

Your heart started beating fast as you took a step forward, trying to listen further but just as you were about you put your ear against the door, it slid open. 

You stood there in shame and anger as you heard him stop. This ship truly was the fucking worst. 

You stood upright, trying to pretend you hadn’t just been caught doing something you shouldn’t have. And apparently, that was his strategy as well. 

He turned his seat further away from you and tried to make his voice sound as collected as possible. 

“You’re awake.” He said, not doing a good job at hiding his arousal. 

“I am…” You replied, a little too fast. 

You stood there for a second, trying to decide what you wanted to do. 

You shook your head. Fuck it. 

You entered the room, deciding to quiet your mind and go after something you wanted. 

“Can I help you with that?” You could see Mando tense up, and with the ball in his court, you waited for a response. 

“Yes.” His voice hit you like a drug and you had to contain your excitement as he turned his seat around to face you. 

You bit down on your lip as you took him in. His dick was hard and rested against his abdomen. He blew your expectations out of the water and you couldn’t help but smile at the thought as you walked over to him and climbed onto the seat with him. 

You tentatively grabbed his dick and stroked him, up and down slowly, focusing your attention on his head. 

Soon, his hands were on you, holding you close and urging you on. You could hear him groan in your ear and that’s all you needed to commit. 

You started to apply more pressure, finding a nice pace that had him moaning louder and louder. 

You felt his hands slowly making their way into your pants and grabbing hold of your ass, moving you closer to him. 

You pressed your chest to his and tried to keep eye contact with him as you continued to stroke him. You wanted nothing more than to kiss him, but also loved the idea of putting on a show for him. 

You let out a moan as his fingers found your clit and slowly drew circles over it. You stopped for a moment, readjusting yourself so that he had better access. 

“Fuck, Mando.” You moaned, picking up the pace. You could tell he was about to come, but just before he could, he stopped you. 

“Wait,” he gently grabbed your wrists. 

You looked up at him and whined, afraid you’d done something wrong. But instead, he grabbed a hold of you, and with your legs wrapped around him, he carried you back to his room. 

He threw you on his bed and you landed with an excited thud. He closed the door behind him, and darkness took over the room. 

“Clothes off.” He demanded. You quickly complied, taking everything off and throwing it across the room. 

You knew he could see you in the dark, so you slid back on the bed and sprawled open like a buffet. 

You could hear his heavy breathing in front of you, followed by his helmet coming off. 

Immediately, his lips were on yours. You kissed him back with fervor as he gently laid on you, his armor still on. 

You couldn’t help but moan as you felt the cold metal against your skin. 

The kiss deepened, as if he was trying to tell you everything he had been feeling for the past few weeks in one kiss. And you understood him completely. 

You hooked one hand around his neck and ran your fingers through his hair, causing him to shiver from your touch. Your other hand found its way to his cheek, and you gently ran your fingers over his unshaven head. 

He held you tightly, as if you were going to disappear any second and you’d never felt more sure of his feelings towards you. 

When you finally broke apart for air, you were panting hard. 

You heard him start to remove his armor, the beskar clanking loudly against the floor. You sat up and helped him remove what remained. 

Soon he was naked in front of you. You felt around until your hands found his chest. You ran your hands over him and you could feel him melt under your touch. He felt at ease, as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. 

You placed your hands over his face and brought him back down on your lips. This time, the kiss was sweet, almost like savoring honey. You took your time, slowly running your tongue over his. 

His hands were quickly on you, pulling you closer to him and softly laying you down on the bed. You wrapped your legs around his waist, your excitement turning to impatience. 

“Mando, please—” You whispered against his lips. 

“Din,” he said. “My name is Din.”

“Din…” You moaned, enjoying the sound of his name on your tongue. “Please, fuck me.”

That was all he needed to hear. You took a deep breath, the anticipation killing you. 

He lined himself before slowly moving his hips forward. You tried your hardest to relax, but your thoughts were starting to come back and were making you overthink everything again. 

He could feel your body tensing up and so his lips found yours once more. You quickly lost yourself to the feeling and before you knew it, he was snugly inside of you.

He slowly started to move his hips as your kiss grew feverous. Soon, you were moaning, barely able to kiss as your sounds filled the room. 

You dug your heels into his ass, encouraging him to go harder. And he did not disappoint. 

Your back arched allowing him to kiss down your neck and chest while he continued to pound into you. 

“Hmmmm Din…” You slurred. He let out a low chuckle, fully well knowing that you loved the sound of his name and he loved hearing you say it. 

He pulled back from you and sat up, finding a new angle and hitting you even deeper. 

“Fuck.” He groaned. You could feel he was getting close, so you started to rub your clit so that you could both get there. 

It didn’t take you a lot to come, the sensation sending him over the edge soon after. He fell on you, and you held him in your arms as you both came down from your highs. 

In that moment, you didn’t think about anything other than the man in your arms and how being with him made you feel. 

“And that is how you effectively communicate.” You joked, trying to break the silence. Din laughed, and the vibrations of his body on yours made you smile. 

He turned to look up at you and placed one more kiss on your lips, before rolling over on his back and bringing you with him. 

You lied in silence for a while, content with being in each other’s arms. 

“So, Din…” You started. 

He let out a chuckle, you really loved saying his name. “Djarin.” 

“Din Djarin…do you finally like me?” 

“I’ve always liked you.”

You immediately sat up, ready to scold him. 

“I didn’t know you well enough before.” He quickly tried to do damage control. “And you definitely hated me.”

You rolled your eyes. “Eh, maybe just a little.” 

He laughed again. His laugh was so calming you wished you could exist in this moment forever. 

“Do you hate me now?” He asked, sitting up and grabbing the back of your neck, bringing your foreheads together. 

“Not as much.” You teased. 

And with that he pounced, pushing you back down on the bed. You let out a yelp and laughed as he kissed down your body, stopping just above your pussy. 

“What about now?” 

But before you could answer, a loud beeping erupted from the cockpit. You both turned to it, confused and annoyed. 

And before you could complain, Din was off you and putting on his helmet. 

So much for a moment alone. 

You stumbled around the room trying to find your clothes in the dark. You bent over to pick up something when you felt a smack on your ass. 

You turned around and shot him a death glare. He chuckled, tossing you your shirt. You managed to put it on as he opened the door of his room. 

You let out a gasp as the light from outside let you get a good look at him, pants hanging low and no shirt in sight. 

“Like what you see?” 

You couldn’t find the words to fire back. His body looked like a perfectly chiseled God but there were scars and bruises all over as well. You tentatively walked up to him and ran your hands over his chest. 

He let you for a moment, curious as to what you were going to do. But as your expression turned sorrowful, he grabbed your hands in his and gave you a comforting squeeze. He was fine, he was here, with you and that was all that mattered. 

The beeping got louder, forcing you to move away from each other and enter the cockpit to see what the fuss was all about. 

Din sat down on his pilot seat and you couldn’t help but smile mischievously. 

“Stop it.” He teased. 

But that wouldn’t stop you now. You moved over and sat down on his lap as he brought up the message. 

The hologram filtered in, and as the image of Greef Karga solidified, you both glanced at each other, your perfect fantasy being washed away by the cold reality of your situation.


	14. Assembling a Team

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being overly cautious after receiving Greef's message, you decide to put together your own team for backup.

“…so, here is my proposition. Return to Nevarro. Bring the child as bait. I will arrange an exchange and provide loyal Guild members as protection. Once we get near the client, you kill him and we both get what we want.”

You shifted nervously on Din’s lap, not comfortable with the words coming out of Greef’s mouth. 

Din felt your discomfort, as he rubbed gentle circles over your thigh reassuringly. 

“If you succeed, you keep the child, and I will have your name cleared with the Guild, for a man of honor should not be forced to live in exile. I await your arrival with optimism.”

The message sputtered out, leaving the cockpit in deafening silence. 

“What do you think?” Din asked you for the first time since you’d known him. 

You turned to face him as he moved his other hand from the controls to the back of your neck. You knew he was trying to distract you from the unsettling feelings that were slowly creeping back into your head, so what you said next surprised him.

“I think we should go.” 

He immediately stopped and you could feel the wheels in his brain turning. 

“It’s obviously a trap, but he’s not wrong. We won’t be able to stop looking over our shoulders if we don’t deal with the problem head on.” You continued on. 

You hated to admit it, but this could be the only way to actually find some normalcy in your life, even if Greef was definitely hiding something. 

“We’re going to need backup.” He stated, imputing coordinates into the control board. 

You nodded in understanding and got off his lap, but before you could leave, he grabbed your arm and pulled you back. 

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Your eyes lit up with excitement as you got back on his lap. 

It was much later when the ship landed back in Sorgan and by then you had managed to get away from Din long enough to put on some clothes. 

You helped him put his armor back on, which was way more work than you had expected, how he did this regularly, you weren’t sure. 

You went down first to wake up the child and let him roam around for a little before making your way to the local restaurant. 

You heard the commotion before you even made it to the door. People were yelling and cheering as what sounded like an intense fight went down. 

You entered the restaurant, followed closely behind by Din. And that’s when you saw her, beautiful as ever, Cara motherfucking Dune. 

She was fighting a male Zabrak who was somehow bigger than her, if that was even possible, as they were connected by a laser tether. 

You quickly handed Din the child and rushed over to a man taking bets. You placed a large bet on Cara before joining Din at the back of the restaurant to watch her fight. 

You could feel his eyes on you as you watched Cara beat the absolute shit out of the Zabrak. It was turning you on a little more than you cared to admit, and he didn’t need to know that. 

Finally, she got the advantage and swung the laser tether around the Zabrak’s throat, who quickly forfeited the match over getting choked to death. 

You cheered loudly, which caught her eye immediately. She turned to look at you and threw you a wink. 

But her smile quickly disappeared when she spotted Din. 

Din approached her while you went to retrieve your earnings and you walked back giddily to the table they had procured. 

You sat down beside her as she poured you both some drinks. 

“Look at you,” she said, happy at first, but the more she looked at your face and noticed the remnants of the bruises you had received, the colder her stare became. “What happened to you?”

She grabbed your chin gently and turned your head around, trying to assess the damage. 

“I’m fine,” you started, but she pressed on. “I’m fine, I swear. This isn’t even the worst of it.”

You tried to joke, but she was clearly not having any of it. 

“Did he hurt you?” She whispered to you. 

“No.” You firmly stated. “It was just some jobs gone sour.”

“So, this job,” Din tried to get Cara’s focus back on him. “It seems like a straightforward operation. They’re providing the plan and firepower. I’m the snare.”

“With the kid?” Cara asked.

“That’s why I’m coming to you.” 

“I don’t know, I’ve been advised to lay low,” Cara said, not really liking Din’s tone. “If anyone runs my chain code, I’ll rot in a cell for the rest of my life.”

“I thought you were a veteran?” You asked, curiosity peaking. 

“I’ve been a lot of things since. Most of them carry a life sentence. If I so much as book passage on a New Republic ship—”

“I have a ship. I can bring you there and back with a handsome reward. You can live free of worry.”

You tried to stay out of it as much as you could, opting for playing with the child instead. They could bicker all they wanted, but you knew she would come with you in the end. 

“I’m already free of worry and I’m not in the mood to play soldier anymore. Especially fighting some local warlord.”

“He’s not a local warlord,” you started, not looking up. “He’s Imperial.”

You knew that would work. You looked up at her and you could see the fire in her eyes. It was the same one you carried with you everywhere you went, a deeply rooted distaste in the imps. 

“I’m in.” 

You were back in the ship soon after that. 

You were all cramped in the cockpit. You sat down and placed the child on your lap as you watched the conversation from earlier carry over. 

“Does your contact need to vet me?” Cara asked. 

“He doesn’t know you’re coming.” Din answered. 

“Really? That could be a problem.” 

“It won’t.” Din turned his seat around to face Cara and you had to look away so that neither could see how red your cheeks were turning. “But if it is, that’s his problem.”

And with that he stood up and walked back downstairs. Cara followed him, not really satisfied with his answer. 

You stuck your head through the stair hatch and watched as Din opened his weapon storage unit. 

“Pick one.” He told Cara. 

Cara smiled like a child and got right on it, picking out and trying different blasters. 

“Do you trust the contact?” She asked. 

“Not particularly,” Din answered, noticing you being nosey. Without taking his eyes off you he continued. “He and I had a run-in last time I was there on some Guild business.”

“So then why are we going?”

“We don’t have a choice. You saw what happened on Sorgan. They’ll keep sending hunters. The kid will never be safe until the imp is dead.” You chimed in. 

Cara turned to you holding a giant blaster gun. “And you’re okay bringing him back there?”

Before you could answer, the ship suddenly took a sharp turn. You hit your head against the hatch as you try your best to regain balance and stand up. 

Din and Cara thrash about while you manage to make it to the control panel. You find the child playing with the blinking lights, trying to get to the sphere. 

You quickly pick him up and sit down on the captain’s chair, doing your best to stabilize the ship. You heard Din rush into the cockpit and press one final button over your shoulder. The Crest smoothly stops shaking and Din places a hand on your shoulder. 

“This ship is shit.” You mumbled under your breath, but Din heard you. His grip tightened just a little and you couldn’t help but laugh, placing a fleeting kiss on his hand. 

You’re both breathing heavily from the strain. You looked down at the child in your lap as he looked back at you with the most innocent eyes. 

“We need someone to watch that thing.” Cara said from behind you. 

“I was supposed to be doing that, sorry.” You quickly apologize to her. 

“No, I agree. When we get to Nevarro it’s all hands on deck. And I need you there with me.” Din said.

“You got anyone you can trust?” You asked him, getting up from his seat. 

“I do.”

You landed in the sand planet where you had found the kid, outside a small farm. You walked out of the Crest and towards a male Ugnaught. 

He welcomed you into his home and you sat down awaiting introductions. Instead, the Ugnaught focused his attention on the child, but it wasn’t an unwanted type of attention. It truly looked as though he cared for him. 

“It hasn’t grown much.” He commented. 

“I think it might be a Strand-Cast,” Din said, and you couldn’t help but roll your eyes at him. You’d had this conversation before, but he still didn’t want to believe this was an actual species, rare, but not any less real. 

“I don’t think it was engineered.” The Ugnaught stated. “I’ve worked in the gene farms. This one looks evolved, too ugly.”

“See?” You shot Din a look. “Wait, ugly?”

“This one on the other hand,” the Ugnaught pointed at Cara. “Looks like she was farmed in the Cytocaves of Nora.”

You tried really hard not to laugh but couldn’t help smile at Cara. 

“And this one,” the Ugnaught turned to you next. You could tell he stopped his train of thought and instead opted to say something else. “I could swear she was a princess.”

You felt everyone’s eyes on you as you smiled shyly, not really sure what to do with the compliment. 

“Well, that is Cara Dune. She was a shock trooper.” Din finally started the introductions. 

“You were a Dropper?” The Ugnaught asked Cara. 

“Did you serve?” Cara was quick to fire back at him. 

“On the other side, I’m afraid.” The Ugnaught responded. “But I’m proud to say that I paid out my clan’s debt and now I serve no one but myself.”

“And this is—”

But before Din could introduce you, the IG-11 unit he had fought with to acquire the child entered the home carrying a tray with tea. 

Din and Cara immediately reacted, drawing their blasters and pointing them at the droid. You gently pushed the kid’s hovering crate behind you.

“Would anyone care for some tea?” The IG unit asked. 

The Ugnaught turned back to you all. “Please lower your blasters, he will not harm you.”

Din and Cara didn’t waiver. 

“That thing is programmed to kill the baby.” Din stated, moving further in front of you to shield you if the droid attacked. 

“Not anymore.” The Ugnaught reassured you as the IG unit placed the tray on a small table. 

And so, the Ugnaught told you how he had gone back to the Nikto hideout and found the unit left for dead. He brought it back to his home and fixed it, reprogramming its mission to protect. 

“Is it still a hunter?” Din asked. 

“No, but it will protect.” 

Din and the IG unit stared at each other for a moment, you could tell he was unsure. 

You found yourself walking around the farm later, wanting some time to yourself. You noticed the Ugnaught feeding his pet blurrgs. 

You approached him, curious. “I didn’t think we were introduced earlier, I’m—”

“I know who you are,” the Ugnaught caught you off guard. “The Runaway Apprentice. It’s good to see you’re not dead.”

Your mouth went dry and your heart started racing. He knew you…truly knew you and you…

“Kuiil?” It had finally clicked. 

“It’s good to see you again.” 

You dropped to your knees and grabbed his hands in a happy greeting to a friend. 

“I have to admit, I never thought I’d see you again, much less with a Mandalorian.” 

You let out a laugh, wiping the tears you didn’t realize had fallen from your eyes. 

“I could say the same thing about you.” You teased. 

Now it was his turn to laugh. “Are you still as skilled with tools as you were with your saber--?”

“Yeah, yeah…but never as good as you.” You interrupted him, noticing Din hiding in the shadows beside you. 

Kuiil caught your drift as you released your hands from his. You both turned to look as Din approached you. 

“Are you okay?” He asked you. You nodded, quickly wiping the rest of the tears from your face. 

“I wanna hire your services.” Din turned to Kuiil. 

“I’m retired from service.” Kuiil answered, hand feeding his blurrg. You did the same, grabbing a handful of the frog slush and placing it in front of the beast. It licked it gently off your fingers. 

“I can pay you handsomely, Ugnaught.” Din pressed on. 

“I have a name, it’s Kuiil.” 

You turned back to Din and shot him an ‘are you kidding me?’ look. He ignored you. 

“I need someone to protect the child, Kuiil.” 

“I am not suited for such work. I can reprogram the IG-11 for nursing and protocol.”

“No, I don’t want that droid anywhere near him.”

“Why’re you so distrustful of droids?” Kuiil was officially braver than you were. You looked at Din and it was as though he was actively trying not to look back at you. 

“It tried to kill him.” 

You didn’t buy it. 

“It was programmed to do so. Droids are not good or bad. They are neutral reflections of those who imprint on them.”

“I’ve seen otherwise.” Din clearly didn’t want to get into it, but this clearly ran deep. Deeper than he was willing to let you see yet. 

“Do you trust me?” Kuiil asked. 

“From what I can tell, yes.” 

“Then you will trust my work.”

You couldn’t help but laugh. Din turned back to look at you and you grabbed hold of his hand, trying to calm him down. 

“IG-11 will join me, and we do it not for payment,” Kuiil stated, turning to face you. “But to protect the child from Imperial slavery.”

You nodded, there was no hiding it now. “No one will be free until the old ways are gone forever.”

You could feel Din’s hand slipping from yours, and you understood why. This was going to be an ugly topic every time, and you were ready for it. 

“Okay.” Din said. 

“And the blurrgs will join me as well,” Kuiil shot you one last glance and a friendly nod before walking away. “I have spoken.”

“The blurrgs?” Din joked and turned to you, expecting you to laugh. But you were lost, deep in thought as you pet the blurrg in front of you. 

He knelt beside you and gently turned your head to face him. 

“Where did you go?” He asked, gently holding your face in his hands. 

“How much did you hear…?” You were afraid he’d see you differently if he knew the true extent of your involvement with the Imperials. 

He took a deep breath, noticing your anxiety creeping back over you. 

“Not enough,” he tried to calm you down. “I’ll be here when you want to tell me the truth, the whole truth. Until then, I didn’t hear anything.”

You nodded, grateful. You reached over and squeezed his wrist, leaning into him before remembering he was wearing his helmet. 

“This fucking helmet.” You mumbled. He let out a sigh and finally let go of you, standing up and extending his hand to you. 

You gladly took it and walked back to the ship with him. 

After that, you wasted no time in helping Kuiil mount the blurrgs into the Crest and soon after you were back on the air, ready to face whatever was waiting for you in Nevarro.


	15. The Force

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The child uses his powers and almost kills Cara, which forces you to open up about your past.

You all stayed below deck while the ship took you to Nevarro. Kuiil tended to his blurrgs and you sat next to him, and the child, watching the hottest thing you had ever seen unfold. 

In front of you, Din and Cara had decided they were going to arm wrestle. You watched as they used all of their strength to try and beat the other, their muscles tightening and their groans filling the room. 

You knew they knew you were watching, and that was the reason they were both putting on a show. So, why not enjoy yourself?

“I got you, Mando.” Cara groaned. 

“Care to double the bet?” Din replied. 

These two were truly going to be the death of you. 

You were too focused on them that you didn’t notice the child’s concerned expression. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw him raise his hand towards Cara and just as he did, she started to choke. 

You sprang into action and quickly grabbed hold of the child, forcing him to lose focus. Cara dropped to the ground, gasping for air. 

“It’s okay, baby. She’s a friend. A friend.” You whispered to the child, holding him close to your body. After a while, the child calmed down. 

“That is not okay!” You heard Cara yell behind you. Din put himself between you and her as Kuiil walked over to see the child. 

“Hmm. Very curious.” He commented. 

“Curious? It almost killed me!” Cara intervened. 

“He is like you.” Kuiil continued. You could feel Din and Cara’s stare on you, a mixture of surprised and deeply confused. 

You nodded. “I was like him.”

“What is it?” Din asked you. 

You slowly turned around to face everyone. You could cry at the sight of Cara glaring at you with such hatred in her eyes, but you understood why. 

“They call it the Force,” you started to explain. “It binds the entire universe together, and only a few can manipulate it. That’s why the Imp wants him so bad.” 

“You were like him?” Cara asked. 

You put the child down in his makeshift crib. “I…left the people who were training me and shut myself off from it. I haven’t been able to tap into it since.”

Cara had calmed down by then and since she could hear the weight in your words, she decided to let it go and stop asking questions. 

“This crib will not do,” Kuiil said looking down at the truly shitty crate you had turned into the child’s crib. 

“You will help me make him a new one.” He turned to you. You thanked him under your breath as he led you away from the mess that was Din and Cara. 

You spent most of the night helping Kuiil build a new crib for the child, modeled after the one Din had found him in. 

It wasn’t until a few hours later that you decided to call it and climbed upstairs. You knew Cara was going to be sleeping in the cockpit due to lack of space, and for a moment you stood frozen, deciding where to go. 

You wanted to explain yourself to Cara, but at the same time you knew it was none of your business and if you didn’t feel comfortable telling her about your past, you didn’t have to. And you also knew Din would have a lot of questions about your past and how it connected to the child. 

You were about to cower away and hide back inside your cramped closet when the door to the cockpit slid open and Cara stepped out. 

You stood there, like a deer caught under headlights.

“Hi.” You managed to say. 

“Hey…” Cara started. “Can we talk?” 

You let out a breath you didn’t know you had been holding and nodded. 

“I’m sorry how we ended things in Sorgan, it wasn’t how—” But before you could continue, her lips were on yours. 

You couldn’t help yourself, and so for a moment, you allowed yourself to indulge and kissed her back feverously. 

She lifted you off the ground and your legs instinctively wrapped around her waist as she shoved you against a wall. 

You pulled away from her, basically seeing stars. “Wait. I…I can’t.”

You tried to explain yourself in a way that didn’t come off wrong but was already ten steps ahead of you. 

“Damn, he got to you before I could?” Cara joked. “I must really be off my game.”

It took your brain a second to catch up, but when it did, you shot her an apologetic smile. 

She gently placed you back down on the floor and you slid down, sitting down in the small room, feet dangling off the ladder hatch. She joined you soon after, placing a hand on your cheek. 

“You truly are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” She said, and you knew she meant it. 

“Have you seen yourself?” You quipped. Cara laughed, taking her hand off your cheek.

“Are you happy?” She asked after a moment of silence. 

You thought for a moment. You hadn’t really talked about your feelings honestly with someone in a while, so it took you a moment to choose to be genuine. 

“I’m starting to get there.” And it was true. You’d had a long and arduous few weeks, and you were finally starting to feel like things were turning for the better. 

“Well good,” Cara said. “And if he ever treats you wrong, you know exactly where to find me. I’ll kick his ass and ride off into the sunset with you.”

Now it was your turn to laugh. 

“Thank you…” You murmured, taking her hand in yours and giving it a gentle squeeze. “I’m sorry the child tried to kill you; I think he just wanted to protect Din—”

You immediately stopped yourself. Cara’s eyes grew wide and a mischievous grin spread over her face. 

“Forget I said that!” You begged her, but all she could do was laugh. “He’s going to kill me.”

“What he doesn’t know can’t hurt him, right?” Cara joked. 

You hid your face in your hands in shame. 

“Can’t you teach him to control his powers?” Cara asked after she stopped laughing. 

You shook your head no. “I shouldn’t. I wasn’t trained with the best intentions and besides, I can’t access my connection to the Force anymore. I’d be no use to him.”

“It’s too bad.” Cara said, but you were barely paying attention anymore as your eyes grew heavy. 

It had been a long day and tomorrow was going to be even worse. The last thing you felt were strong hands picking you up as your mind descended back into your nightmares. 

This time you were inside a classroom, an Imperial officer was teaching you about the order of the galaxy and key things that you needed to know to properly do your jobs. But you weren’t paying attention. 

A beautiful Nautolan girl sat across from you and you couldn’t help but glance at her every five seconds. 

The base was a horrid and cold place, you weren’t really supposed to smile here, but she seemed to be able to always see the good in any situation. 

You watched her intently, your mind not able to comprehend the kinds of feelings you were feeling for her yet. 

The scene in front of you changed and you were suddenly in the concrete courtyard. Children ran around, trying their best to try and be normal in a world devoid of all normalcy. 

The Nautolan sat under a wilting tree, reading a book. You mustered all your courage and approached her. Her smile could literally light a thousand fires and destroy a million cities. And you were drawn to it like a moth to a flame. 

You got to talking and you finally felt like you could talk to someone who wouldn’t just push you away. You’d gotten comfortable, too comfortable, when suddenly, strong hands grabbed you from behind. You tried to fight back, confused as to what you had done wrong, but nothing was coming to mind. 

The stormtroopers used their electric batons to subdue you as they dragged you away from the one friend you’d ever had and threw you into a cold, small cell. 

You woke up with tears in your eyes. Sitting up, you realized you were back in Din’s bed. You knew he had woken up too and you could feel him staring at you. But he didn’t say anything, he just waited for you. 

And for the first time in a long time, you allowed yourself to cry. It was intense and your whole body shook from finally letting go of all the feelings you’d been holding in. Din shifted in bed and held you tight against his chest. 

You felt safe. You were safe. There was no other place you would rather be, and you wouldn’t change this for anything.


	16. It's Always a Trap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You arrive to Nevarro, only for things to go south really quick.

You arrived in Nevarro early in the day. 

You made sure to arm yourself with as many hidden weapons as you could, knowing fully well that this was not going to be a straightforward job. 

You’d never seen Din so stressed. He was definitely very good at hiding it, but you could just tell by now how his back was tense and he kept trying to make himself busy. 

Once you finally landed, he was the first one off the ship. He was so ready to get things rolling that he helped Kuiil harness the blurrgs while you got the child into his new pod. 

You mounted the blurrgs, Cara and Kuiil both got their own and since you and Din were the ones most likely to share, you both got one to yourselves. 

You sat behind Din and wrapped your hands around his waist as you disembarked the ship, and he led the way toward the small group of hunters. 

The closer you got, the clearer it was that Greef was not happy that Din had brought his own team for backup. It wasn’t part of the plan. 

“Sorry for the remote rendezvous, Mando, but things have gotten complicated since the last time you were here.” Greef tried his best to make light of the situation, but you knew he wasn’t thrilled. 

And his demeanor changed even more when he saw you. Up to this point you didn’t think he knew you’d been helping Din evade his hunters, and you could see his heart breaking a little at your choice of allegiances. 

Greef called your name. “It’s good to see you again.”

“It would be better under different circumstances.” You answered coldly. 

“I believe introductions are in order. It seems we’ve both provided a security detail.” Greef was fully annoyed now. “I recommend the shock trooper guards the ship. These lava fields are lousy with Jawas.”

“She’s coming with me.” Din quickly replied. 

“But the town is now run by ex-Empire. If a rebel dropper is with us, they’ll all get their hackles up.”

“She’s coming.” You shot Greef a look. He wasn’t going to win. 

“Fine. At least cover your tattoo. No need to flaunt it.” You knew Greef had hit a nerve. “Now, where is the little one?”

You all looked at Din as he pressed some buttons on his hand panel that brought the pod forward. The pod’s top slid open to the sides revealing the child. 

Greef stepped forward and started to pick up the child. “So, this little bogwing is what all the fuss was about?”

Everyone was on edge. You all reached for your blasters, ready to attack if provoked. 

“What a precious little creature.” Greef held the child up to see him better. “I can see why you didn’t want to harm a hair on its wrinkled little head.”

Greef calmly put the child back in his pod and finally everyone started to relax. 

“Well, I’m glad this matter will be put to rest once and for all.” 

Din closed the top and brought the pod back to your side. 

“The sun drops fast on Nevarro.” Greef announced. “We can walk through a spell, camp out at the riverbank, then make our way into town at first light.”

Without another word, the trip on foot began. You were thankful you didn’t have to actually walk, but it was still an arduous journey. 

“Do you still think he’ll betray us?” Din asked you after a while. 

“Yes. But not yet. He’ll wait until we’re close enough to the town to make his move.” You answered, not really looking forward to it. 

“Can you tell through the Force?” 

You were taken a little aback. He wanted to talk about this, now?

You decided to humor him, maybe it would help take his mind off things for a moment. 

“I could tell you so much more through the Force.” You started. “This is just me not really trusting anyone.”

“You trust me.” 

“I trust your heart. I trust you won’t let me down because if you do, there is not a place in the universe I would not find you.” 

He chuckled and for the first time that day, you could tell he was calm. 

After a moment, he got really serious again. “I need you to promise me that if I tell you to run, you’ll take the kid and leave.”

Part of you knew that what he was asking of you was an impossible promise to keep. But in that moment, you held him tighter and promised him you’d do it. 

Greef was not kidding when he said the sun dropped fast on Nevarro. You had made camp and lit a hungry fire that was keeping you warm. 

You could clearly see the divide between your group and the hunters, then not wanting to come anywhere near you. 

You were all eating in silence, everyone on high alert. The only one who seemed to be enjoying themselves was Greef who tried to small talk Din. 

“Let’s go over the plan again.” Din quickly stopped him from getting too cozy. 

“We both enter the common house, we show the client the bait, we join him at the table, and you kill him.”

“Tell me about his reinforcements.”

“They’re all ex-Empire. As soon as they lose their paycheck, poof, they scatter.” Greef tried to make light of the situation, but you knew that it was much more serious. 

“And what if they don’t?” You chimed in. 

“They will.”

“That’s not good enough.” Din insisted. You were glad he’d finally gotten some common sense and was asking questions before jumping into danger without flinching. 

“If, for arguments sake, a few of them don’t realize that I’m their best path to alternative employment, and they elect to react impulsively, then these three fine Guild Hunters along with that battle-hardened shock trooper and your blood-thirsty girlfriend, will cut down anyone who bucks.” 

You wanted to punch Greef. Din turned to look at you and his look alone stopped you before you could do something you’d regret. 

“How many will there be?”

Greef stood up and walked over to the meat over the fire. 

“No more than four.” Greef was a terrible liar. “He travels with at most, a Fire Team. Trust me, nothing is going to go wrong.”

And as if on cue, a giant, flying reptavian dove from the darkness above and narrowly missed Greef, but gave him a nasty gash on his arm. 

Everyone went into hyper mode, reaching for their blasters. 

You instinctively dove for the child and closed the hatch of his pod. With the child secure, you pulled out your blaster and got ready to attack. 

Suddenly, the sky was lit up by blaster fire as three creatures soared above you. You were honestly left blinded as Cara opened fire with her massive blaster cannon. You didn’t really know what you were aiming at, all you remember was shooting your blaster in the air at anything that moved. 

You watched as a creature descended and grabbed a blurrg. 

“No! Let go of her!” You heard Kuiil yell faintly through the fire. You tried to shoot down the creature, but it was long gone into the dark sky. 

The fire ceased for a moment as you all tried to listen for the creatures. But it was no use as another one descended and grabbed a hunter this time. 

You opened fire once more and the third beast tried to get another of the blurrgs, but they were both shot down before it could get away. 

That clearly pissed another one off as it landed directly on Din and sent him face down on the ground immediately. 

Cara shot at it, driving it away as Din turned on his flamethrower and drove them away back into the night. 

Cara, Din and Kuiil rejoined you around the child, creating a protective circle around the two of you just in case they came back. 

Once the smoke had lifted, you noticed Greef was slumped over on the ground holding his arm close to his chest. 

Kuiil and Cara rushed over to him while you and Din made sure the child was okay. Soon, Din joined them. 

“He’s hurt badly.” Kuiil announced. 

Greef insisted that he was okay, but it was clear he wasn’t. 

Cara aggressively tried to bandage him up, but it was no use, you could see the poison was quickly spreading. 

“So, this, this is how it happens?” Greef said. 

“Don’t be so dramatic.” Cara replied, still trying to help him. 

You looked at the child and he looked at you. He wanted to help him. You took a deep breath and picked him out of his pod, walking him over to Greef.

“What are you doing?” Din asked, clearly concerned. 

“Just let him show you.” You said in a calm voice as the child reached out for Greef. 

“He’s trying to eat me!”

“Shut up, Greef.” You scolded him. 

You all watched in awe as the child focused all of his energy into healing Greef. Soon, the poison stopped spreading and the cut began to close on its own. 

By the time the child was done, there wasn’t a hint of an injury left on Greef. 

You caught the child before he could fall to the ground, spent. You held him in your arms and walked away from the group as they all tried to grasp what they had just seen. 

You slept with one eye open that night, knowing fully well the kid had shown his best card and it could hurt you all in the long run. 

The next morning couldn’t come soon enough. You were now walking on foot since your rides had been sadly taken from you the night before. 

You tried to keep to yourself in order to not say something that would get you in trouble this late in the game, but Greef was soon walking beside you, a concerned look plastered over his face. 

“You shouldn’t have come.” He whispered to you. 

You tried to ignore him as you noticed the town come into view in the distance, but you knew why he was concerned. If Cara was wanted by the Empire, you were public enemy number one. Greef had helped you build a new identity, one that could live her life without constantly having to look over her shoulder, and you knew it was all going to come crashing down today. 

Cara and Din joined you as you looked over the town, as you waited to be betrayed, when suddenly, Greef shot the two hunters behind you. 

Din and Cara pulled out their blasters, but to all of your surprise, you weren’t in danger anymore. Greef quickly put his hands up to show that he wasn’t going to shoot any of you. 

You were the only one not on edge as you calmly walked over the dead hunters and kicked their blasters away. 

“Did the child change your mind?” You asked Greef. 

Greef nodded. “After last night, I couldn’t go through with it. The plan was to kill you and take the kid.”

Din and Cara kept their blasters trained on him. 

“You can gun me down here and now and it wouldn’t violate the Code, but if you do, the child will never be safe.” Greef continued. 

“We’ll take our chances.” Cara chimed in, irritated. 

“The Imperial client is obsessed with obtaining this asset. You tried to run, but where did it get you?”

“This is ridiculous.” Cara continued. 

“Perhaps you should let him speak.” Kuiil said, which made Cara angry. 

“Listen, we both need the client to be eliminated. Let me take the child to him and then you two—”

“No.” Din said. 

“Let’s kill him and get out of here.” Cara tried to talk some sense into everyone, but Din lowered his blaster. 

“He’s right.” Din started. “As long as the Imp lives, he’ll send hunters after the child.” 

“What are you doing?” Cara said. “It’s a trap.”

“It was always a trap.” You said. 

You understood what needed to be done, even if you didn’t exactly agree with it. 

“Bring me.” Din stated. 

“Bring you?” Greef was confused. 

“Tell him you captured me. Get me close to him and I’ll kill him.”

“That’s a good idea, give me your blaster.” Greef was immediately on board. 

Mando handed over his blaster as Cara continued to try and talk some sense into everyone. 

“You can’t possibly be okay with this!” She turned to you. 

“It’s the only way.” Was all you said. 

“Well, I’m coming with you.” Cara announced. 

“No, no, no, that would make them suspicious.” Greef quickly interjected. 

“Tell them she caught me.” Din said. 

“Fine, then she can bring the child.”

“No, the kid goes back to the ship.” 

You understood his plan perfectly, but you weren’t sure how you fit into it. 

You raised your hand, a little annoyed. “Yes, hi, what’s my cover?”

Din turned to you, apologetic. You knew exactly what he meant. 

“Really, now!?” You were angry again. 

“Ride back to the ship with Kuiil, seal yourselves in and engage ground security protocols.” Din ordered. You’ve never been more annoyed in your life. “You promised.”

Kuiil handed Din a comlink just in case and reminded Cara to cover up her stripes. 

You walked up to Din as he handed you a pair of handcuffs and you put them on him. 

“Don’t get too excited.” You heard him tease, but you weren’t really in the mood. 

“Don’t die.” You said, venom dripping from your mouth. 

“Yes, ma’am.” He responded. 

You watched as the three of them made their way across the valley down to the town and when you turned back to Kuiil, he was already on the blurrg, the child placed securely in a satchel across his body. 

“You’re not going to listen to him, are you?” 

“Obviously not.”

“Good luck.” Was all he said to you before he left. He’d always understood you. You gave the child one last kiss on his forehead as Kuiil set off back into the desert. 

You waited patiently until they had gone into town before making your way down the mountain.


	17. It's Not a Trap, It's an Ambush

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group tries to execute the Imp but they soon realize they bit off more than they could chew.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> <3

Of all the things you wanted Greef to not be lying about, “four stormtroopers” was now at the top of the list. You watched from afar as the entire town had been overrun by them. They controlled who went in and who went out, they had eyes everywhere and on everything, and for the first time since you’d escaped, the possibility of being taken again felt like a looming threat. 

You had seen Greef show his chain code in order to get into town, which meant you had to do the same. It was safer to make a scene outside the town’s gates than inside where a handful of troopers could surround you immediately. 

You waited a moment after Greef, Cara and Din entered before making your move. At least you looked the part of a disheveled bounty hunter as you approached the gates. 

A storm trooper stopped you and you tried to act as disinterested as possible as you handed him your chain code, as if you’d done this every day of your life. 

The scan took a moment. And then it took a little longer. You were starting to panic when the scan came back clear, and the trooper handed you your card back. You continued on your way, taking note of just how many troopers there really were and you couldn’t help but humor yourself thinking about how angry Cara could be right now. 

You continued to follow the group at a very long distance and noticed they had entered the local cantina. From your hiding place in the market, you watched as a single stormtrooper exited the building and into the alley. This was too easy. 

You sneaked up behind the trooper and wrapped your arm around his neck, choking him to sleep. Once his body went limp, you dragged him out of view and quickly took off his armor. 

This was definitely one of the weirdest things you’d done. You put the armor on, doing your best to make it look like it fit, when in reality if you looked closely, it was obviously too big for your body. You pulled up your hair and completed the look by putting on the dreaded helmet. 

You immediately felt strange. You caught your reflection on a window and couldn’t help but stare at yourself for a moment. Your past mixed in with the fact that you were now pretending to be the thing you hated most in order to try and save the people you cared for made you want to throw up, but you threw the thoughts into a dark corner in your mind and quickly regained your composure.

Your friends needed you. And if you were all going to get out of there alive, you had to act now. You watched another trooper walk past the alley and quickly joined him, making yourself seem as in place as possible and followed him into the cantina.

As you entered the cantina, you noticed four other stormtroopers guarding the Imp. You felt Cara’s eyes land on you as Greef and Din sat down with the client. 

“…It is a shame that your people suffered so.” You heard the Imp say. “Just as in this situation, it was all avoidable.”

The stormtrooper in front of you moved to help surround them while you stood back in the shadows. You didn’t want to draw much attention to yourself, but you still wanted them to think you were one of them. 

“Why did Mandalore resist our expansion?” The Imp continued. You could feel Din try his best to stay calm, but it hit a nerve. “The Empire improves every system it touches, judge by any metric. Safety, prosperity, trade, opportunity, peace.”

Now it was your turn to stay calm. Your grip on your blaster tightened and you bit down on your tongue to stay as neutral as possible. 

“Compare Imperial rule to what is happening now. Look outside. Is the world more peaceful since the revolution? I see nothing but death and chaos.” 

He had made his point. It was the same one they had tried to drill into you when they were training you to be a killer. There was no order without the Empire, and without order, there was no life. And they were the only ones who could bring that order, with your help, of course. 

“I want to see the baby.” They couldn’t stall any longer. 

“Uh…it is asleep.” Greef tried, but he wasn’t successful. 

“We all will be quiet.” There was no way out of this. “Open the pram.”

Cara looked over at Greef, a terrified expression on her face. 

And then, by what appeared to be divine intervention, a stormtrooper approached the Imp and said something to him that made him stand up. 

“Don’t think me to be rude, I must take this call.” The Imp left the table and walked over to the bar. 

You watched, ready to spring into action as Din got out of his handcuffs and Greef slipped him back his blaster. 

This wasn’t going to end well. You knew they were preparing to kill the Imp and then fight their way out. 

But then the hologram came into focus and everything changed. You stood there, paralyzed in fear as everything started to make sense.

Moff Gideon, a face you truly hoped you’d never have to see again stared back at the room and you felt as though he could see right through your disguise. 

“Have they brought the child?” His voice ran a chill down your spine, and you knew you had made the right choice to come with them instead. 

“Yes, they have. Currently, it is sleeping.” The Imp replied, confident. 

“You may wanna check again.” 

Fuck. 

You heard it before it could happen. 

“Get down!” You yelled as the cantina exploded with blaster fire coming in from the outside. 

They got the Imp first and then it went off. It was erratic and violent; they didn’t care who they shot as long as they shot someone down. 

You watched as Din flipped over the table and they all took cover behind it. You ran towards the nearest wall and hid behind it. 

The fire ceased and for a moment there was a deafening silence. You forgot that you were still wearing stormtrooper armor as Cara peeked out from behind the chair and aimed her blaster at you. 

She fired and you narrowly dodged it, quickly taking off the helmet. “Cara, no!”

Cara and Din exchanged a look as they chose directions. Cara swiftly moved towards your corner while Din went the other way. 

You managed to take off the remaining armor as she crouched down next to you. 

“He’s pissed.” Cara said. 

“Yeah, well, he should know I don’t listen to him by now.”

You stood up, curious and peeked out of the cantina window to see into the courtyard. Half a dozen Death Troopers stood there; blasters drawn on you. 

You took out your comlink. “This isn’t good.”

Din had heard you. “You’re supposed to be on the ship.” 

“And you’re supposed to be dead, so it’s good neither of us are where we thought we’d be.”

He couldn’t argue with that. 

You watched on as a troop transport entered the square and dropped off dozens of stormtroopers. They all moved quickly, getting in formation behind the Death Troopers. 

“Four stormtroopers?” Cara said beside you. You really wanted to punch Greef. “This is bad.”

Din got out his other comlink. “Kuiil, are you back to the ship yet? Are you there? Do you copy?”

“Yes!” You heard Kuiil respond. Thank fuck. 

“Are you back to the ship yet?” 

“Not yet.”

“Get back to the ship and bail. Get the kid out of here. We’re pinned down.” 

Suddenly, an Outland TIE Fighter descends from the sky. 

“They’re not the ones we should be worrying about.” You commented, the words heavy on your tongue. “He is.”

You all watched with hitched breaths as the TIE Fighter landed in the middle of the courtyard and out came Moff Gideon. He walked calmly to the front of the group as you cowered away, trying to stay as hidden as possible. 

“You have something I want.” He announced. “You might think you have some idea of what you are in possession of, but you do not.”

“Who is this guy?” Cara asked, turning to look to you. But when she saw the dread and fear in your face, she stopped asking questions. 

“Kuiil, are you back to the ship yet? They’re onto us.” Din spoke into his comlink again. “Kuiil, are you there?”

“It means more to me that you will ever know.” Gideon continued. 

Din kept trying to reach Kuiil as a different cold feeling took over you. But this time, it was as if a window had been left open and the breeze of an oncoming storm ran through you. You tried to shake it off, but it wasn’t going away. 

“Something’s wrong.” You muttered to yourself.

“Is there another way out?” Cara asked. 

“No, that’s it.” Greef pointed to the door into the courtyard. 

“What about the sewers?” Din suggested. 

“Sewers?” Greef was confused. 

“The Mandalorians have a covert down in the sewers. If we can get down there, they can help us escape.” 

“Yeah, sewers are good.” Cara immediately agreed. 

“Checking for access points.” Din started to scan the room as you slowly regained your composure. 

“What the hell are they waiting for?” Cara commented. 

Just as she said it, the stormtroopers brought in an E-Web and started assembling it. 

“Fuck.” You said. 

“They’re setting up an E-Web.” Cara stated. 

“It’s over.” At least Greef was still being overdramatic. 

“I found the sewer vent.” Din said. 

“Let’s get the hell out of here.”

Cara and Din rushed over to a back wall and took apart the booth chairs. You and Greef stayed put, blasters ready if needed. 

You heard Cara strain, trying to get the grate off the wall. 

“Move.” You yelled at her as you turned on your lightsaber knife and started to cut a hole through. 

You could feel them staring at you, the clock ticking. 

“It’s assembled!” Greef announced. “How much longer?”

Your lightsaber was having trouble cutting through the metal. It was thick, but you were making progress. 

“I would prefer to avoid any further violence and encourage a moment of consideration.” Moff Gideon continued on outside. 

Gods, why was he still talking?

“Members of my escort have completed assembly of an E-Web heavy repeating blaster. If you are unfamiliar with this weapon, I am sure that Republican Shock Trooper Carasynthia Dune of Alderaan will advise you that she has witnessed many of her ranks vaporized mid-descent facing the predecessor of this particular model.” 

Cara was stunned into silence. She was angry and confused. You knew this was how he operated, using his knowledge to strike fear in the hearts of his opponents. 

“Or perhaps the decommissioned Mandalorian hunter, Din Djarin, has heard the songs of the Seige of Mandalore, when gunships outfitted with a similar ordnance laid waste to fields of Mandalorian recruits in the Night of a Thousand Tears.”

You glanced back at Din; he was petrified too. You were too concerned with the task at hand that you couldn’t even tell him not to listen to Gideon. It was all a mind trick. With sweat dripping from your brow, you were hallway through. Almost there. 

“I advise disgraced Magistrate Greef Karga to search the wisdom of his years and urge you to lay down your arms and come outside. The structure you are stuck in will be razed in short order, and your storied lives will come to an unceremonious end.”

“What do you propose?” Greef yelled back. 

You were relieved for a moment; he didn’t know you were there too. 

“Reasonable negotiation.”

“What assurance do you offer?”

“If you’re asking if you can trust me, you cannot.” 

Two thirds. Your hands were trembling. 

“Just as you betrayed our business arrangement, I would gladly break any promises and watch you die at my hand.”

The metal fizzled, burning your hand a little. But you kept going. You had to get out of here. 

“The assurance I give is this,” Gideon continued. “I will act in my own self-interest, which at this time, involves your cooperation and benefit. I will give you until nightfall, and then I will have the E-Web cannon open fire.”

You fall back on the floor, spent and kick the grate with everything you have. It still doesn’t budge. 

“Fuck.” 

Din dropped down and knelt beside you. “Are you okay?”

You nodded, a little too quickly. You weren’t okay. You reached out for his hand and he let you hold it to your chest for a moment. 

“I say we hear him out.” Greef chimed in. 

“The minute those doors open, we are dead.” Cara quickly replied. 

“We’re dead if we don’t,” Greef continued. “At least out there, we’ve got a shot.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” Cara had moved to the floor, focused on gathering as many blasters as possible. “I’m a Rebel Shock Trooper, they’ll upload me to the Mind Flayer.”

“Those aren’t real, that was just wartime propaganda.” 

“I don’t care to find out. I’m shooting my way out of here.”

You let go of Din’s hand and sat up. “I can do this. It’s almost off.” 

They all looked at you for a moment and you could feel they didn’t want to offend you, but they knew there was nothing you could do. 

“What about you Mando?” Greef changed the subject. 

“I know who he is.” Din’s words surprised you. You turned to look at him as he stood back up. “It’s Moff Gideon.”

“No, Moff Gideon was executed for war crimes.” Cara was terrified. 

“It’s him.” You confirmed. “I’d know that face and recognize that voice anywhere.”

Din turned to look at you and you shared a heavy look. 

“He knew my name.” Din continued. “I haven’t heard that name spoken since I was a child.”

“On Mandalore?” You asked, tentatively. 

“I was not born on Mandalore.” Din’s stare didn’t falter from you.

“But you’re a Mandalorian.” Greef was asking to be punched at this point. 

“Mandalorian is not a race.” Cara said. 

“It’s a Creed.” Din explained. “I was a foundling. They raised me in the Fighting Corps. I was treated as one of their own. When I came of age I was sworn to the Creed. The only record of my family name was in the registers of Mandalore.”

“Moff Gideon was an ISB Officer during the purge.” You added. 

“That’s how I know it’s him.” 

“That’s how he knows who we all are.” Cara commented. 

“Try Kuiil again.” You told Din. “Gideon said he needed us, which means the child must’ve gotten away or else we’d all be dead by now.”

Din nodded, taking out his comlink once again. “Come in, Kuiil. Kuiil?” 

He was met with silence on the other end. 

“Nothing.”

“They might’ve jammed the link.” Cara suggested. 

When suddenly, the child’s coos filled the room. 

“Kuiil has been terminated.” You heard the IG-11 say. 

That same ice-cold chill went down your spine. “Kuiil is dead?”

“What did you do?” Din quickly asked it. 

“I am fulfilling my base function.”

“Which is?”

“To nurse and protect.”

Off in the distance you started to hear the sounds of blaster fire. And as they got closer and closer to you, you watched the IG-11 riding on a speeder, the child strapped to his chest as he laid waste to the stormtroopers in its way. 

And one thing was clear, you were going to fight your way out of here.


	18. I Won't Leave You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You fight for your lives, but somehow that is not enough as you are forced to make an impossible decision.

You hadn’t realized that you were paralyzed in shock until Din put his hand on your shoulder. You turned to him, tears in your eyes as the IG-11 unit drove into the square, blasters blazing as if it couldn’t be beaten. You turned and watched in awe as it threw itself off the speeder and caused the most chaotic scene you’d ever witnessed. 

Din gently turned your face to face his. 

“Can you do this?” He asked, genuinely concerned. 

You nodded, your sadness quickly turning into anger. 

Din turned to Cara. “Cover us.”

Cara threw herself over the bar and opened fire on the troopers as you and Din went out the front door. 

He started fighting, blasting a few troopers so that you could exit the cantina easily and it was glorious. You quickly separated from him, choosing to use your blaster over your saber. 

You shot the troopers in front of you, it was too easy. You noticed Greef come out after you and for a moment, the three of you took out troopers left and right with no problem. It wasn’t until the Dark Troopers started attacking that things started to go sideways. 

Two attacked Din, and you could tell he was struggling. He managed to shoot one down, but the second easily threw him on the ground. Din reacted quickly and kicked him back, Greef assisting him. 

You continued forward, but by this point, the troopers had gone for cover, which led you to do the same. You watched as the IG unit continued to fire its way through while the child dangled off it in a sack. It looked like the child was having the time of his life. You were just glad he was still with you. 

But then the troopers concentrated their fire on it, sending it down on its knees. You looked back at Din as he eyed the E-Web. 

“Din, go!” You yelled back at him and drew their fire towards you. Din immediately understood and dashed for the E-Web, ripping the cannon off its mount and opening fire. 

You watched as the tide started to turn in your favor, you might actually get out of this. And then, out of the corner of your eye, you saw the back door to the cantina blow up. 

Cara.

You ran as quickly as you could around the block, leaving the battlefield behind. 

You entered the cantina silently behind three Death Troopers who were firing aimlessly in front of them. You couldn’t see Cara, so you assumed she was taking cover somewhere behind the bar. 

You took out your lightsaber and turned it on, your body eager for a fight. You ran your saber through the trooper in the middle, quickly jerking it out to the right to slash the other one before they could react. In one last swing, you blocked the third’s shot at you and cuts their head clean off. 

Cara slid out from her hiding place and you could feel her stare baring into you. The façade was broken, and this is who you truly were. And for a split second you could see she was afraid of you, but the anger soon dissolved into gratefulness. 

“I was wondering when you were going to show up.” You heard Gideon yell from outside. 

You turned to look at him through the window, his blaster pointed at Din who has fallen over to his knees. Before either of you could react, Din picked himself up and pointed the E-Web at Gideon. 

But Gideon was smarter. He aimed at a large box of ammunition just in front of Din and shot it. The explosion sent Din flying back. He landed on the ground unconscious. 

You and Cara rushed out of the cantina as Dark Troopers surrounded Gideon. You provided cover, swirling your saber around and deflecting blaster fire back to the stormtroopers while Cara dragged Din out of danger. 

“Go!” You yelled back at Greef, who followed Cara back inside, the IG unite quickly followed. 

You wanted to keep fighting, you wanted to take on every stormtrooper there still was, but before you could, Cara’s strong hands grabbed your waist and pulled you into the cantina. 

As the door closed in front of you, you tried to wriggle out of her arms, but she was stronger than you. Your lightsaber fell to the ground, turning itself off. 

You heard her whisper your name, putting more pressure on her grip. “You need to calm down.”

You nodded and closed your eyes, taking deep breaths as the tears fell down your hot face. 

Cara let you go, hesitantly, and you immediately rushed over to Din. You tried to find his pulse, and you could barely feel it. He was still breathing. 

“Oh, thank fuck.” You whispered, holding Din’s hand tightly in yours. 

“I’m not gonna make it, you need to go.” Din groaned. 

“Shut up!” You and Cara said at the same time. 

“You just got your bell rung; you’ll be fine.” Cara knelt down beside him. 

“Leave me.” He told you. 

You stood up, letting his hand drop beside him. “No.” You tuned to the IG unit. “Get that grate off, now.” 

“Yes, ma’am.” The droid put down the child and immediately started to unseal it. You quickly picked up your lightsaber as Cara examined Din’s injuries. Her hand came back covered in blood from his head. She turned to look at you, concern across her face. 

“I’m gonna need to take this thing off.” Cara said, reaching over to take Din’s helmet off. 

He immediately stopped her. “No, you leave me…you make sure her, and the child are safe.”

“No—” You sobbed. 

“Here,” Din ripped off his necklace, the Mandalorian pendant dangling from it and handed it to Cara. “When you get to the Mandalorian covert, you show them that. You tell them it’s from Din Djarin. You tell them the foundling was in my protection and they’ll help you.” 

“We can make it.” Cara tried to plead with him. 

Suddenly, the room lit up as fire spewed into it. You threw yourself over the child as everyone else around you dropped to the ground. 

“We have to go, now!” You barked at the IG. 

“I can hold them off long enough for you to escape.” Din said. 

“I am not leaving you, you idiot!” You yelled at him. “There’s no version of this where you get to bail.”

“Stop.” He reached his hand out to you. You took it, giving it a soft kiss. “Let me have a warrior’s death.” 

You couldn’t take it; this didn’t need to end like this. 

“You promised you weren’t gonna die.” You sobbed. “Not you too.”

“I guess we do both break our promises.” He tried to joke. “This is the Way.”

And just as you were about to lay into him again, a stormtrooper walked into the cantina holding a flamethrower. 

You all braced for the end as the stormtrooper fired…but the flamed didn’t get to you. You turned to see the child using the force to shield you from the fire. With one hand movement, he sent the flames back onto the trooper who was sent flying out of the cantina. 

With everything burning around you, the IG unit started to kick the grate and it finally fell into the sewers with a loud clank. 

“Come on, it’s open. Let’s go!” Greef announced. 

The IG unit picked up the child again and handed him to you. “Escape and protect this child, I will stay with the Mandalorian.” 

“No, no! Please, Din, no!” You wailed and tried to hold on tighter. 

Din turned to Cara. “Do it.”

Without another word, Cara picked you up and pulled you away from Din. 

“No!” You continued yelling, but it was no use. 

“Promise me you’ll bring him.” Cara said to the IG. 

“You have my word.” 

Greef went in first, followed by you getting aggressively pushed down into the opening. You thrashed maniacally as you fell down on the floor of the sewers. 

Before you could get up to fight, Cara picked you up again and swung you over her shoulder. You punched and thrashed against her, but since you didn’t want to hurt her, there was nothing you could do to get out of her grip. 

You walked through the tunnels for a while and you had eventually calmed down. You had handed Greef the child since you weren’t really able to hold him in your position. 

“Can you please put me down?” You asked Cara for the tenth time in five minutes. 

“No.” Was all she answered. 

But you couldn’t take it anymore. 

“I’m sorry.” You whispered to Cara, and before she could react, you rammed your knee into her chest. 

She doubled over in pain, letting her grip slip just enough for you to throw yourself forward to the ground and roll away. 

You took off running as fast as you could back the way you came through. You ran until you were out of breath, but when you looked around you to see if you were close, you didn’t recognize anything from before. 

Fuck, you had gotten lost. 

You turned your lightsaber back on to shine a light on the tunnel and continued forward, alert and ready to fight. 

For a while, nothing happened, you just wandered through eerily empty hallways trying to find your way back to Cara and the child. And that was when you heard them, rushing footsteps making their way towards you. 

You quietly slid behind a pillar and turned off your saber, waiting for whatever was coming. You watched as five troopers made their way past you. 

That’s when you struck. You turned your saber back on and slashed your way through the first one. As his body dropped to the ground, the rest opened fire on you. You skillfully deflected the blaster fire and moved into the center of the group.

You jumped on a trooper and used the impulse to kick another trooper on his chest. Wrapping your arm around the first one, you pulled him to the ground before running your lightsaber through their chest. 

The remaining two aimed their blasters at you and fired while slowly retreating to find cover. But before they could, you used your saber to redirect their fire back to them and shot them down. 

You took a moment to calm down before moving on down another tunnel. You could hear another group of troopers walking further down. This time you chose to follow them for a while, maybe they could lead you back to your group. 

And then you noticed the IG unite step out from the side and open fire on the group. You quickly jumped into the action and slid down between two troopers, slashing at the feet of one and then smoothly standing up and slicing the other. 

“Stop.” You heard the IG unit say. You slowly turned around; your hands raised in peace. When realization hit it, it lowered its blaster. 

“Where is he?” You asked. 

The IG walked back to where he had come from and you followed it eagerly. The hall opened up into a round room with a forge in the middle. 

Everyone was there. You looked further into the room and noticed there was another Mandalorian in the room. She had a beautifully carved helmet on, with small horns all over. You could tell she was clearly in charge here and you certainly didn’t want to make her angry. 

All eyes fell on you as you entered the room, but you didn’t notice. You quickly turned off your lightsaber and rushed over to Din. You threw yourself over him and hugged him harder than you probably should’ve. He let out a pained grunt, but he didn’t care as he hugged you back with the same need. 

“Never do that to me again.” You scolded him. 

“I won’t,” he replied, holding you tighter. “I promise.”

You slowly let go of him and move back, not wanting to anger the Mandalorian who seemed unconcerned with you. 

The Mandalorian poured liquified beskar into a mold and you all watched as it solidified. 

“You have no choice. You must reunite it with its own kind.” The Mandalorian spoke. Her voice stunned you into silence. 

“Where?” Din asked. 

“This you must determine.” She continued on. “I believe the girl might be of use for that.”

You were confused but decided not to say anything out of fear. 

“You expect me to search the galaxy for the home of this creature and deliver it to a race of enemy sorcerers?” Din was a little annoyed. 

His words weighed heavy on your mind. Enemy sorcerers?

It clicked. The Jedi. 

“This is the Way.” The Mandalorian began banging the mold with a large hammer. 

“Not to be an ass, but we need to get out of here,” you said. “These tunnels will be overflowing with Imps any moment.”

“Yeah, we should at least discuss an escape plan.” Cara agreed with you. 

“If you follow the descending tunnel it will lead you to the underground river. It flows downstream toward the lava flats.” The Mandalorian said. 

You and Cara exchanged a look. 

“I think we should go.” Greef said. 

“I’m staying.” Din said beside you. “I need to help her, and I need to heal.”

You turned to look at him with your coldest stare but before you could say anything, the Mandalorian spoke for you. 

“You must go. A foundling is in your care. By Creed, until it is of age or reunited with its own kind, you are as its father.” 

You looked at Din and tried really hard not to laugh as all you could think was how he had basically been called daddy. 

“This is the Way.” The Mandalorian said before walking over to Din. “You have earned your signet.”

She placed the mold on his right pauldron and welded it on. You all turned to look at it, and to your surprise, it was a Mudhorn signet. 

You couldn’t help but flash him a smile as you remembered the moment. You hadn’t met yet, but it was what had started it all. 

“You are a clan of two.” She told Din. 

“Three.” He said, eyes glued to you. “A clan of three.”

Your heart started racing and you had to stop yourself from doing something you’d regret. Instead, your smile got bigger and you had to look away.

“I have one more gift for your journey,” the Mandalorian said. “Have you trained in the Rising Phoenix?”

“When I was a boy, yes.” Din answered. 

“Then this will make you complete.” When she turned around, she held a jetpack. 

You could tell Din was in shock as he looked over the final piece of his armor. 

“Thank you.”

“When you have healed, you will begin your drills,” she commanded. “Until you know it, it will not listen to your commands.” 

“I understand.”

“More troopers will come. You must go.” 

“Come with us.” You said, hopeful. 

She turned to you with an expression you couldn’t quite figure out. “My place is here, girl.” She turned to Din. “Restock your ammunitions.”

Din moved to the back of the room to do so as she turned to the IG unit. “IG, carry this for Din Djarin until he is well enough to wear it.”

The droid handed you back the child as he received the jetpack. You held the child close in your arms and moved over to Cara. 

“I’m sorry.” You said. 

“I should’ve known.” She laughed it off. 

“At least now we both know I could kick your ass in a fight.” 

She let out a full belly laugh. “You wish.”

Cara followed the IG and Greef out of the room and down the hall towards the lava river while you waited behind for Din. 

“Be safe in your journey.” The Mandalorian told both of you. 

“Thank you.” Din said. 

You were both leaving when she spoke one last time. “And girl, be careful. You are walking down a dangerous path, one that might not end the way you want.”

You looked back at her briefly before catching up with Din. 

“Are you okay?” He asked you. 

“Yeah, I think I cried myself out a while ago.” You tried to joke, but there was nothing in your voice that indicated you were okay. 

He grabbed a hold of the back of your neck and gave you a reassuring squeeze. Surely the worst part was way behind you. Right?


	19. The Worst Part

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You struggle to push away dark thoughts as you finish the battle against Gideon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi lovelies. This is the penultimate chapter in the first season of the show. I have been taking some time off but hope to have a new chapter up soon. It will be spicy x

You made it to the lava river and found an old ferry boat. It was your only way out, so you all tried to push it out into the stream, but it wouldn’t budge. 

“You guys mind getting out of the way?” Cara said behind you and you all stepped back, allowing her to shoot at the lava that had solidified around the boat. 

Soon, the boat was loose, and you all jumped aboard. 

You’d noticed the ferry droid was basically destroyed, but a little way into your slow journey, the droid woke up and turned massive. 

Everyone’s blasters raised as the droid asked where you wanted to go, and you told it. Quick glances were thrown your way from everyone else, apparently only you spoke droid. 

You were all quiet after that. You sank to the floor, exhausted from the day and played with the child for a while before Cara sat down beside you. 

“How’re you holding up?” She asked.

“I’m okay. It’s been a long day.” You really didn’t feel like talking about it as you were still processing all of it. Kuiil’s death, Din almost dying and you not being able to do the one thing you’d agreed upon at the start of your partnership, Moff Gideon knowing you were alive and now being tasked to deliver the child to the hands of someone who would kill you the second they saw you…long day was an understatement. 

“What about you?” You asked her. She shot you a reassuring smile but before she could answer, Greef was ushering you up. 

“That’s it! We’re free.” Greef announced. 

As you got up to your feet, you noticed the end of the tunnel was drawing near. You could almost cry, ready to put this horrible day behind you. 

“No, no we’re not.” Din said. Your heart sank. “Stormtroopers. They’re flanking the mouth of the tunnel. It looks like an entire platoon; they must know we’re coming.”

“Stop the boat.” Cara told the droid. But nothing changed. “Hey, droid, I said stop the boat.”

You continued moving downstream. 

Cara moved back towards the droid. “Hey, I’m talking to you! I said stop.”

She shot the droid, making its head come clean off. But even then, the current continued to take you downstream. 

“We’re still moving.” Greef pointed out. 

“Looks like we fight.” You said, the annoyance evident in your voice.

“There’s too many.” Din replied. 

“Well then what do you suggest?” Cara asked him. “Cause I can’t surrender.”

“They will not be satisfied with anything less than the child.” The IG unit chimed in. “This is unacceptable. I will eliminate the enemy and you will escape.”

“You don’t have that kind of firepower, pal.” Din quickly said. Since when were they such good friends? “You wouldn’t even get to daylight.”

“That is not my objective.”

You watched as Din turned to the IG, a weird sadness over him. 

“We’re getting close, saddle up.” Cara told you all. 

“I still have the security protocols from my manufacturer. If my designs are compromised, I must self-destruct.”

“What are you talking about?” You asked it. 

“I am not permitted to be captured. I must be destroyed.”

“Are we gonna keep talking or get out of here?” Greef was getting impatient. 

“I can no longer carry this for you.” The IG placed Din’s jetpack on the boat. “Nor can I watch over the child.”

“Wait, you can’t self-destruct.” Din tried to reason with it. It took you aback. He had been so vocal of his distrust for droids that this didn’t feel like him. “Your base command is to watch the child. That supersedes your manufacturer’s protocol, right?”

“This is correct.”

“Good. Now grab a blaster and help us shoot our way out.”

“Victory through combat is impossible.” The IG told Din. “We will be captured; the child will be lost. Sadly, there is no scenario where the child is saved in which I survive.”

“Listen, you’re not going anywhere. We need you, let’s just come up with a—”

The IG unit turned to you. “Please tell me the child will be safe in your care.”

You looked at Din, who was pleading with you. There had to be another way. 

You took a deep breath and turned back to the IG unit. “Yes, the child will be safe.”

“No, we need you!” Din tried one last time. 

“There’s nothing to be sad about, I’ve never been alive.” The IG tried to console him. 

“I’m not…sad.”

“Yes, you are, I am a nurse droid, I’ve analyzed your voice.”

You reached out and grabbed Din’s arm, reassuringly as the IG took one last look at the child in your arms. 

You all watched as the IG stepped into the lava river and calmly made its way towards the mouth of the tunnel. 

The lava was slowly destroying it, but it made it outside just in time before its entire body burned. You could see the troopers getting ready to shoot it, shoot you, when it exploded. 

You covered your eyes and the child as the flames reached you. 

Everyone was still on high alert as the boat floated out back into the open. You looked around at the destruction. This had been the right choice; you would’ve been destroyed if the IG had not given himself up. 

You could tell Din was angry, angry at your choice but also that he couldn’t do anything else about it. 

But your problems weren’t over, as you heard the distinct sounds of a TIE fighter coming your way. 

“Moff Gideon!” Cara yelled. 

Din immediately pulled you behind him as Gideon opened fire on you. The three of them fired back, but their blasters were no match for his Imperial ship. 

He narrowly missed you, but he was coming back around. 

“He missed!” Greef was relieved.

“He won’t next time.” You replied. 

“Our blasters are useless against him.” Cara was desperate. 

“Hey, let’s make the baby do the magic hand thing.” Greef suggested. You looked at him, confused. “Come on baby! Do the magic hand thing.”

The child waved at him, oblivious to what was being asked of him. 

“You got another plan?” You asked Greef. 

“I do.” Din replied. He holstered his blaster as Gideon turned the corner back to you. Din moved back towards his jetpack and struggled to put it on. 

“No! You’re not—” You yelled at him, but before you could grab a hold of him, he was off into the sky. 

Gideon flew right past you, concentrating his fire power on Din. 

Din jumped over the TIE fighter, quickly throwing his grappling hook and swinging around in the air behind the fighter. 

Motherfucker. 

You all watched in terror as Din hung on for dear life. He turned on the jetpack once more and thrust himself on top of the fighter. 

At first, he tried to shoot Gideon through the top hatch, but it wouldn’t budge. Gideon quickly turned to evasive maneuvers which sent Din tumbling back onto one of the wings. 

He continued to hold on as he reached back for a detonator. He tried to slam it on the wing, but it fell out of his hand. 

You handed Cara the child as you jumped off the boat and followed the fight from below. 

Din finally managed to put a charge on the wing and then let himself fall back into the sky. He let himself fall for a moment to get as far from the TIE as possible. The charge blew up, taking off the entire wing and sending Gideon off into the desert. The TIE fighter landed in the distance with a bang, exploding in the process. 

But Din kept falling. Hopefulness started to turn into desperation as he couldn’t get the jetpack to turn back on. 

You couldn’t lose him, not now, not ever. You closed your eyes and concentrated on the feeling of the earth beneath your feet, the feeling of the breeze, the beating of your heart. You allowed yourself to put down your guards and you reached out into the sky with every last bit of strength that you have and—

You slowly open your eyes, fearing the worst, but as you looked up you noticed your efforts had worked. Din was suspended in the air, ten feet from the ground. 

Your entire body filled with dread as you realized what you had done and the price you had decided to pay in order to save the man you…

The thought took over your mind and broke your concentration. Din fell again, this time landing face down on the desert. 

Fuck. You quickly ran towards him, falling to your knees beside him and turning him over. 

“That was stupid.” You told him. “You could’ve died.”

“You’re always there to save me.” He chuckled, grabbing a hold of your hand. 

You smiled back at him. You were going to enjoy this, before it all went to shit. You were alive, you were safe, he was alive, he was safe. 

You were exhausted, every fiber of your body felt as though it had been struck by lightning. You knew Din could feel your body tremble beneath him. It took you a while to get your shit together as Cara and Greef joined you.

Greef helped Din off the ground as you declined Cara’s offer. Your legs were not strong enough to hold you up. 

“That was impressive!” You heard Greef say. “You did the hand thing!”

You couldn’t help but chuckle at his complete awe of your “party trick”. 

“It looks like both your Guild rates have just gone up.” You were thankful that he could joke about these things now. 

“Any more stormtroopers?” Din asked. 

“I think we cleaned up the town.” Cara responded. She sounded tired, but happy. You had done it. “I’m thinking of staying around just to be sure.”

You immediately turned to her. “You’re staying here?”

Cara nodded, placing the child down. 

“Well, why not?” Greef sounded offended. “Nevarro is a fine planet, and now that the scum and villainy have been washed away, it’s very respectable again.”

“As a bounty hunter hive?” Din asked. There might be a place after all where you could come back and be welcomed with open arms. 

“Some of my favorite people are bounty hunters!” Greef looked at you both and you couldn’t help but smile. “And perhaps, this specimen of a soldier might consider joining our ranks.”

“Yeah, I’ve got some clerical concerns regarding my chain code.” Cara said. 

You watched as the child made his way to Din and grabbed his leg. You couldn’t help the tears coming down your face, but you did your best so that no one noticed. 

But the child noticed. You could tell he wanted to help you, to heal you like he’d done with Greef, but you tried your best to keep him out of your head. You needed to keep him out, keep him safe from the thoughts of anguish and anger you held so closely. 

“And if you would agree to become my enforcer, clerical concerns would be the least of your worries.” Greef and Cara continued talking as you finally looked over at Din and motioned for him to help you get up. 

He immediately moved over to you and picked you off the ground. You were strong enough to stand at least but held onto him for support. 

“But you, my friends,” Greef turned to Din. “You will be welcome back into the Guild with open arms. So, go off, enjoy yourselves. And when you’re ready to return, you will have the pick of all quarries.”

Din picked up the child and held him close in his arms. “I’m afraid we have more pressing matters at hand.” 

You nodded as Cara took a step forward and gently pet the child’s ear. 

“Take care of this little one.” She told him. “And take good care of her.”

She turned to you and for the first time since you’d known her, you saw her tough exterior crack. 

“I think she can take care of herself.” Din joked. You playfully slapped his chest as you moved to give Cara a big hug. 

She held you tight and you let yourself melt into her arms.

“I’ll see you soon.” You whispered to her. 

“You better.” She replied, letting you go. 

You turned to Greef next. 

“Stay sharp, kid.” He said to you. 

“Stay humble.” You joked. He laughed a little as you moved back to join Din. He opened his other arm to you, and you shot him a warning glance. 

“Really?”

“Come on.”

You rolled your eyes as you stepped into his arm. You grabbed hold of his neck and held on for dear life as he took to the skies again. 

This time, he didn’t lose control and you landed safely back at the Crest. But as you did, you noticed Kuiil’s body. 

You slowly approached it and with trembling hands, you spent the next few minutes burying him under a pile of rocks. 

Din had left you alone, allowing you to cry and grief in peace. 

You were lost in your thoughts, your guard down when you heard it. A deep rustling of wind, like an electric storm was approaching. It was as though you had opened a door underwater and water came rushing back in, drowning you and consuming you. 

You couldn’t move, you couldn’t breathe, you couldn’t think. 

You had allowed it back into you, and you feared it would only get worse.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are always welcome! <3 Updates every day apparently.


End file.
